Great Offer: Sofia Offers Airlines 99% Discount For Certain New Routes

Sofia Airport is offering a whole flurry of discounts as it hopes to turn itself into a regional hub with links to North America and Asia. The discounts include a 99% landing charge discount for intercontinental routes and a 60% airport charge discount for each transfer passenger.

GullivAir could use the 99% discount as an opportunity to launch flights to New York JFK. Photo: GullivAir

Sofia Airport to offer a 99% discount

Sofia Airport has launched a Traffic Encouragement Programme in order to stimulate air traffic and develop connectivity, but also to provide opportunities for the airport’s travelers to make efficient use of the airport infrastructure.

The discounts are as follows:

• A 99% discount on the landing charges for intercontinental routes to North America and Asia
• A 60% discount on airport fees for all transfer passengers traveling on scheduled international and domestic routes

The first discount, that of 99%, is offered as part of Sofia Airport’s strategic goal to be connected to destinations in North America and Asia.

The second discount, that of 60% on transfer passengers, is due to Sofia Airport’s goal to turn itself into a regional hub by promoting transfer traffic.

There are also landing fee discounts for airlines flying domestically within Bulgaria:

• A 70% discount for flights from Burgas Airport (BOJ) to Sofia (SOF)
• A 90% discount for flights from Varna Airport (VAR) to Sofia (SOF)

Lastly, to enable airlines to develop a network of direct scheduled flights and to provide better air connectivity, Sofia is also introducing a discounted parking fee:

• 15% discount for airlines parking three aircraft or more
• 30% discount for airlines parking six aircraft or more

The discounts offered to airlines are applicable for the period between 1st October and 31st December 2021, though the airport also indicated that discounts can be extended into 2022 after “further consultations”.

Wizz Air will benefit from the aircraft parking charge discount at Sofia Airport because it boasts a base of more than six aircraft there. Photo: Getty Images

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Why is the airport doing this?

Jesus Caballero, the CEO of SOF Connect, the consortium of French, Austrian, and German companies that has been operating Sofia Airport since April this year, said the following of the Traffic Encouragement Programme:

“The new programme aims to stimulate traffic by providing opportunities to open new destinations, increase flight frequencies, attract new airlines and create strategic, long-term partnerships. All this is for passengers benefit with more choices in planning their journeys. Our actions are also aimed at developing tourism and the economy, which are an integral part of the aviation business”

Ryanair also boasts a large base in Sofia Airport, competing mainly with Wizz Air. Photo: Getty Images

Who else could benefit?

In March 2021, Simple Flying wrote about how GullivAir, a Bulgarian startup airline, was awarded permission to fly scheduled and chartered flights to the United States by the US Department of Transportation.

The DOT documentation revealed that the GullivAir intends to fly three weekly flights out of Sofia Airport to New York’s JFK airport. The airline already has three Airbus A330 aircraft that it acquired for this exact purpose, but it has still not started flying to the USA.

Today’s news may just be the push that GullivAir needed.

Do you think this Traffic Encouragement Programme will yield good results? Let us know what you think of this story in the comments below.

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