Aviation

NIS – An Ilyushin II-76 plane of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations carrying 70 rescuers landed at the airport in Nis, southern Serbia, on Friday morning.

Turkish Airlines will have a direct route Istanbul-Varna, starting from June 30, said deputy tourism minister Branimir Botev. 

According to him, the negotiations on the opening of the route were very hard. 

Botev expressed hopes that Varna would become an important access point to the Istanbul airport. 

The United States government has donated two unmanned aerial vehicles "RQ-11 Raven" to the Bulgarian Army.

The total price of the drones amounts to USD 3 M, the daily Trud reported. Their primary purpose is for surveillance, but a weapon can also be mounted on them.

By Alexandra Kassimi

Air seats to Greece have increased by 10 percent this year as not only are low-fare airlines choosing the country as a destination despite Athens International Airport’s high costs, but established carriers are now returning to the country’s airspace in response to its growing tourism figures.

British Airways will operate direct flights from London’s Heathrow Airport to the Greek islands of Myconos and Santorini for the high season starting on May 3. The airliner has also added a Thessaloniki-London Gatwick Airport service four times a week.

Japan will end its participation in the search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet which disappeared on 7 March while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

So far, Tokyo has provided four military planes for the operation, two C-130 transport planes and two P-3C surveillance planes.

Producers who sell their agricultural goods at open-air markets around the country are to begin an open-ended strike as of Monday in protest at proposed changes to legislation governing how the markets are managed.

A direct flight connecting Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Varna and Istanbul in just 45 minutes, will be launched in May.

Turkish Airlines and Varna airport have signed an agreement and as of 21 May 2014, there will be direct flights between the two cities 4 times a week, BGNES reports.

Deep waters in the Indian Ocean have been hampering the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

The autonomous underwater vehicle "Bluefin 21", which was submerged into the search area on Monday to scan the waterbed, had to be pulled out prematurely as it is designed for depths of up to 4,500 meters, CBC News reported.

Sofia Airport has processed a total of 833,278 passengers in Q1 2014, which is a 7.3% increase compared to the same period of 2013.

There was a 9% increase in the number of passengers using international regular flights, a total of 748,143 people, according to a media statement of the airport.