February 4 (SeeNews) - Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, a 60/40 joint venture of Germany's Fraport and Bulgaria's BM Star, said on Tuesday it plans to invest over 12 million levs ($6.8 million/6.1 million euro) this year in the Bulgarian airports of Varna and Burgas which it operates.
Fraport Twin Star Airport Management has already started a reconstruction of the apron at Burgas airport and will begin a project for expansion and rehabilitation at Varna airport, the company said in a statement.
In 2019, the airport operator invested some 8.6 million levs in the airports located in Bulgaria's two biggest cities on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
Passenger traffic at Varna airport fell by an annual 8.6% to 2 million last year, while passenger numbers at Burgas airport decreased 12% to 2.85 million.
In 2020, Fraport Twin Star Airport Management aims to increase passenger traffic at the two airports, backed by seven new routes from Burgas - to Vienna, Lviv, Kharkov, Vinnytsia, Rostov, Szczecin and Lublin, as well as five new routes at Varna Airport - to Vienna, Nantes, Aarhus, Krakow, Rzeszow and Deville.
Fraport Twin Star Airport Management, which is operating the two airports under a 35-year concession awarded in 2006, has invested over 395 million levs in them during the 2006-2019 period.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)