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Russian authorities have allowed local operator Pegas Tourist to charter flights with Russian tourists to Bulgaria this summer, said Rumyana Yuksel, manager of the Aqua Tour BG representative for Bulgaria.
The flights will depart at the end of June to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, she added. The first ones are planned to Varna from Perm, Orenburg, Krasnoyarsk, Ufa and Novosibirsk of their Nordwind airline. Respectively, Bourgas will start operating from Anapa, Khabarovsk, Grozny, Kemerovo, Tomsk – Bogashevo, Novokuznetsk and Beslan.
There are currently no flights from Russia to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The Russian airline S7 postponed its program until June 26 until 10 days ago. It also suspended its regular flights to Bourgas by the end of May and has not resumed them so far.
According to Galin Georgiev, manager of the largest tour operator specializing in the Russian market in Bulgaria – Solvex, other Russian airlines have received permits from Rosaviatsia to fly to Varna and Bourgas. Among them are Ural Airlines and Aeroflot. “But this still does not mean that they will operate these flights, as the Russian operational headquarters for the pandemic has not yet allowed the travel of Russian citizens to all countries. According to their criteria, Bulgaria is still not among the so-called green states, ”he explained.
On the other hand, bookings of Russian citizens for holidays in Bulgaria have been made for several weeks now. Earlier, the caretaker Minister of Tourism Stella Baltova explained that she had talked to the Foreign Ministry and our consular centers in Russia were already issuing visas to Russian citizens without them presenting a purchased holiday voucher or plane ticket to facilitate the process.
At the moment, according to the airport operator of our two sea airports – in Varna and Bourgas, for the period until October about 240 flights are planned from Russia to Varna and about 630 to Bourgas. However, this includes flights that have already been postponed in May.
In the last year before the pandemic – 2019, the number of Russian tourists vacationing in Bulgaria was 400 thousand. However, this includes all Russians who own property here.
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