Varna Airport

Varna Airport is the second-busiest airport in Bulgaria after Sofia and the primary gateway to the northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast, handling roughly 2.4 million passengers annually. Varna's traffic profile is among the most seasonal of any major European airport: summer traffic to resorts at Golden Sands, Albena, and the wider Bulgarian Riviera can be more than 15 times winter traffic, with peak-season charter-heavy operations requiring substantial ramp and slot capacity that sits idle from November through March. VAR is operated under a long-term concession together with Burgas Airport (BOJ) by Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, a consortium led by German airport operator Fraport. The airport is served by Wizz Air, Ryanair, Lufthansa, Austrian, Turkish, Aeroflot (historically), S7, Air Serbia, and Bulgaria Air, plus a long list of seasonal charter carriers: TUI, Condor, Eurowings, SunExpress, Corendon, and Enter Air bring Western and Central European leisure traffic. Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian traffic — historically very significant at VAR — has been severely reduced since 2022 due to the closure of EU airspace to Russian carriers. A single runway, 09/27, measures 8,202 ft (2,500 m). The modern Terminal 2, opened in 2013 under the Fraport concession, replaced an aging Soviet-era terminal and provides 20 check-in desks, four jet bridges, and 12 gates. Terminal 1, which served domestic and smaller traffic, is now used for general aviation and overflow. VAR sits 9 km (5.6 mi) west of Varna city center and 8 km (5 mi) from the nearest Black Sea beach, at an elevation of 230 ft (70 m).