Two Bulgaria Air flights are expected to deliver back home yet another batch of Russian tourists, who fell victims to a trade dispute between the country's national airline and a tour operator.

The planes are scheduled to take off at Burgas airport at 8.40 am and 12.40 am on Friday after the tickets were paid by Russian partners of the tourist agency Alma Tour, whose debts to the national airline made it cancel a number of flights, turning the tourists into hostages.

It was not immediately clear whether the two planes will deliver 360 Russian holidaymakers, who were scheduled to get home on Friday or deliver those unlucky tourists, who have been stranded for days on end at Burgas airport.

Some 500 more Russian tourists suffered a similar fate when their flights were canceled, but Russian tour agencies were quick to buy their clients new flights so they might return home.

Currently around 60 tourists from Saint Petersburg are reported to be still blocked at hotels along the southern coast.

The hundreds of Russians, together with hundreds of fellow tourists from Finland and the Baltic states, were stranded at Black Sea airports of Burgas and Varna after Saturday, when carrier Bulgaria Air cancelled a number of flights due to an EUR 3.6 M debt by operator Alma Tour.

Over the past days, Russian media have come out with publications criticizing harshly the incident and commenting that it will have a gravely negative effect for Bulgaria, traditionally a favorite destination for Russians.

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