Sofia, January 16 (BTA) - Sofia Airport has serviced a total of 3,364,151 passengers in 2021, which is 14.5 per cent more compared to a year earlier, but still 52.7 per cent less than during the pre-pandemic 2019, the Airport said in a press release here on Sunday.

COVID-19 impacted the aviation industry severely and the figures show the sector's slow recovery. While according to Eurostat, Bulgaria is among the EU countries with a smaller decline in flights at the end of 2021, the figures for Sofia Airport show that the passenger recovery is less than 50% compared to 2019, when the capital's airport served over 7 million passengers.

Passenger traffic on international scheduled routes increased by 12.9 per cent compared to 2020, while domestic passengers went up by 50 per cent. If, however, the data is compared with 2019's, a serious decline of 55.1 per cent for international passengers and 30.8 per cent for those travelling on domestic routes is observed.

Top Destinations

The top destinations with the most number of passengers in 2021 were London - 400,856, Varna - 175,192 and Frankfurt - 142,999.

Correspondingly, the countries to which the most passengers travelled from Sofia Airport were Germany - 506 838, United Kingdom - 467,275 and Italy - 322,482.

Aircraft Movements

Aircraft take-offs and landings at Sofia Airport last year reached 40,771, an increase of 13.4 per cent compared to 2020, but 33.6 per centless compared to 2019.

Cargo

The volume of cargo and mail handled in 2021 decreased by 8.3 per cent compared to 2020 and amounted to 21,141 t. This is also a decrease compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, when the handled cargo and mail shipments added up to 23,987 t.

Airport Charges

In 2022 SOF Connect, the operator of Sofia Airport, is keeping airport charges unchanged in order to support the airline industry. The charges remain the lowest in Eastern Europe and one of the cheapest in Europe. This will also provide opportunities to open new destinations, increase flight frequencies on the existing ones and attract new airlines to operate from Sofia Airport in 2022.//MY