site.btaBulgaria Air Executive Director: No Signs that Airfares Will Fall

Bulgaria Air Executive Director Bistra Marinkova said there are no signs that airfares will fall. She was talking at Wednesday's news conference reviewing the state of civil aviation in 2024, its trends and the challenges facing it.

Marinkova said this was due to the highly restrictive aviation policies at the European level and noted that airlines are required to pay for emissions quotas, whose prices are set by the market.

So far this year, airlines of a scale like Bulgaria Air are required to use sustainable aviation fuel, which is more expensive. Tankering for economic reasons is prohibited, meaning that if fuel is cheaper in Sofia than in Prague, airplanes cannot refuel at the lower price for the return flight, Marinkova explained. Each airport and ground handling operator has updated prices. All of this, put together, explains why airfares cannot decrease.

"As the national carrier and the only airline operating regular international and domestic routes, Bulgaria Air has a mission that sometimes goes unnoticed by the public - hundreds of tickets are provided free of charge to people with health issues. Not a single request has been denied," said Marinkova.