Low-cost carriers

The Minister of Tourism, Vassilis Kikilias, expresses reasonable optimism for the next tourist season in an interview with the Financial Times.

"Having met most airlines and tourism providers in the UK, we can only be very optimistic about 2022," he said. He pointed out that "in 2022 Greece expects 35% more visitors from the United Kingdom compared to 2021".

"We want to be leaders in tourism. We are in the championships, we do not want one of the best scores, we want the best score.

A group of European airlines agreed to refund passengers whose flights were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and committed to provide better information on passengers' rights in future.

Blue Air announced the launch of services from its new base in northeastern Iasi, starting with next summer and is offering direct and connecting flights to over 23 destinations, according to a release of the company. Blue Air will have one Boeing 737-8-MAX at its headquarters in Iasi and will operate 8 direct flights and over 15 connecting flights in Iasi.

Budget carrier Ryanair announced strong profit estimates for August and earmarked it was expecting further positive results on the back of solid bookings. The company seems to be only lightly affected so far by the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant, Reuters reported.

Wizz Air opened three completely new routes from Plovdiv. The news comes three days after the announcement of the rival Ryanair, which announced that it also launches flights to and from the Bulgarian city.

In August, the low-cost airline EasyJet will serve 30 countries. There is a dropout of three countries compared to the same month in 2019 - Estonia, Finland, Norway and Slovenia will no longer be served, although all of them except Norway will "return" in September-November.

Wizz Air, the fastest growing airline in Europe and the leading carrier in Bulgaria, celebrated the opening of its first base in Burgas and third in the country. The base will be seasonal, with the airline basing one Airbus A320 aircraft at Burgas airport between June and September 2021.

Ljubljana/Dubai – Low-cost airline Flydubai intends to start operating flights between its base in Dubai and Ljubljana in September. According to the Ljubljana airport flight schedule, Flydubai will launch flights to Slovenia’s capital on 24 September, flying three times per week, aviation portal Exyuaviation.com reported.

Turkey is launching direct flights connecting Sofia and Antalya this season. Anadolu Jet, a low-cost airline and a brand of Turkish Airlines, is including Bulgaria's capital Sofia in its network of international destinations, announced the company's press office.