Burgas city council on Tuesday authorised mayor Dimitar Nikolov, or someone he names, to vote "for" at the general meeting of the Burgas Airport Development Fund association. One item is whether the fund should pay for Bulgaria Air flights between Burgas and Sofia that would start in early April 2027, before the Eurovision song contest.
The route would have up to 5 flights a week in both directions. Separate proposals would give money from the fund to other airlines for flights in the 2027/2028 winter season.
The meeting is on 6 November at 10:00 in the meeting hall of Burgas municipality. The authorisation covers the whole agenda: the choice of an auditor, the 2025 annual financial report, the association's budget for 2026 and 2027, and the flight proposals. Because the date is close, councillors agreed that the decision can take effect right away.
The municipality says the decision creates no new financial obligation apart from the membership fee already approved, for which money is set aside in the city budget.
The mayor's report to the council says the association was set up to improve air links and to develop tourism, business activity and transport infrastructure in the south-east.
The fund has backed flights between Burgas and Sofia before. In the 2024/2025 winter season, flights in November and December 2024 were paid for by Fraport Twin Star Airport Management AD. For January to March, the money came from the fund after a procedure under the Public Procurement Act. Flights were backed in the same way in the winter of 2025/2026, when the airport was closed for repairs.
In October, transport minister Georgi Peev promised, after a meeting with mayor Dimitar Nikolov, that the ministry would help Burgas get better transport links before Eurovision. He said links with the airports in Istanbul and Sofia should be improved.
The association's management board has launched two public procurement procedures for passenger flights to and from Burgas Airport in the winter of 2026/2027. An airline showed interest in only one of them. The contract for the Burgas–Sofia route has yet to be signed.