Thomas Cook Group plans to increase flights to the Bulgarian Black Sea coastal cities of Varna and Burgas from next summer.
Flights from the UK to Burgas will be increased from 13 to 14, Bulgaria’s tourism ministry quoted Thomas Cook Group CEO Peter Fankhauser as saying.
Varna will be a new destination for tourists from the UK next year, with two weekly flights, Fankhauser added during a visit to the country.
Hhe also said that depending on bookings, Thomas Cook’s German airline Condor could increase weekly flights from Germany to Varna and Burgas to nine in 2018.
Condor currently runs five weekly flights from Germany to Burgas and two weekly flights to Varna.
Thomas Cook plans to carry about 400,000 holidaymakers to Bulgaria this year, up by 16.5% on 2016.
Meanwhile, Fosun, the Chinese shareholder in Thomas Cook and owner of Club Med, reported a 33.6% rise in half year profits.
The insurance-to-tourism conglomerate, which has a market value of $13.6 billion, said net profit for the six months ended June totalled 5.86 billion yuan ($889.2 million), up from 4.39 billion yuan a year earlier.
Revenue increased 11.6% to 36.3 billion yuan. The company said its key businesses – including Club Med – performed strongly.
Fosun raised its stake in Thomas Cook Group to 11% in May having made an initial investment of £91.8 million for 5% two years earlier.