On 10 November, Fraport Twin Star Airport Management AD (FTSAM) marked the first decade of its successful airport concession at Burgas (BOJ) and Varna (VAR) on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. 

 

Ten years ago, Fraport Twin Star commenced operations for Bulgaria’s first airport concession – the start of a 35-year commitment for managing and developing Burgas and Varna airports as vital gateways to one of Europe’s most interesting and increasingly popular tourist regions.

 

In a recently released financial report, the Fraport Group registered diverging traffic development during the first three quarters of 2016, but the combined traffic figures for the Twin Star airports of Varna and Burgas grew by a noticeable 22.5% to 4.4m passengers (September 2016: up 26.8% to 691,780 passengers).

 

Both Varna and Burgas have certainly helped to offset the negative impacts of the Turkish and Russian airports in Fraport’s portfolio, hit hard by the slowdown in traffic and spend from Russian travellers.

 

WEAKER RETAIL IN FIRST HALF

In the first half of this year, Fraport admitted that the Retail & Real Estate segment was negatively affected primarily by weaker retail business (-€5m) due to changes in the passenger mix and a lower average spend per passenger, which was due in part to exchange rate effects. Net retail revenue per passenger was €3.51 (previous year: €3.63). The Fraport Group generated total sales of €2.6bn and profit of about €297m in 2015.

 

Addressing the guests last week, CEO Heppe reflected on the last decade: “We are very happy with what has been achieved in the past 10 years.

 

“We are also proud of the new terminals at Varna and Burgas which have turned our two airports into modern gateways to the Black Sea coast. Our airports meet European and world standards of service excellence.

 

“We are proud of serving more than 35m passengers during this amazing first decade. For us, this year has also been particularly exciting because we achieved strong 22% growth in passenger traffic – new historical records for both airports.

 

“Along with improving the infrastructure, the key to our success has been the employees at Fraport Twin Star who have a very strong service commitment to our passengers, airlines and partners.”

 

$192M INVESTMENT

To date, Fraport Twin Star has invested more than 350m leva ($192m) in the development and modernisation of both airports. Brand new ‘state-of-the-art’ passenger terminals were inaugurated in 2013 at BOJ and VAR.

 

These have included a renovated runway at Varna airport, significantly expanded areas for positioning of aircraft at Burgas Airport (apron extended), modern equipment at both airports, newly built service buildings, as well as a career development centre for employees. The continuous training and qualification of airport staff is a key element of Fraport Twin Star’s corporate policy and its success.