jens написа:by the way: why there are no flights offered to Plovdiv this year???
jens
Hi Jens,
I am afraid that the reasons are mainly economic. Plovdiv airport serves mainly charter flights for the ski resorts. Sadly but, it is not very often to hear German speech at the Bulgarian resorts. Or not as much as before.
For many years the charter flights to Germany used very strange system, where the places were divided by the touroperators, but with no block seats. This system was very favourable for the touroperators, but not for the carriers (anyway when the planes were not full). And it is very hard for a carrier to have a plane at an airport, just serving a flight a week.
Other reasons include:
1. Development of a Bansko as a ski resort (for which SOF is more preferable)
2. Awful condition of all the facilities at Plovdiv Airport.
3. Many of these flights are used by Bulgarians living in Germany, who generally prefer flying to Sofia.
Anyway the things are not so bad. The airport is functioning and is been used for charter flights (mainly from the UK) and I personally think there is great potential in PDV, I see it like a low-fare airport. It takes no more then an hour and a half to drive from PDV to Sofia centre.