Austrian Airlines flights from and to Varna, on the northern Bulgarian coast, will be diverted to the airport in Burgas, on the southern coast, as of October 15, the company announced.

The move has been necessitated by an unprecedented closure of the Varna Airport for repair works.

The Varna Airport will be undergoing repairs from October 15, 2011, till February 28, 2012. The Varna Airport was opened on May 9, 1948.

Austrian Airlines service daily flights from Varna to Vienna and back.

Tickets purchased for the company's flights will be automatically re-certified for Burgas as a final destination. Passengers will be offered free bus shuttles, which will connect the two airports while the repair works are underway.

It is expected that other airlines that operate flights to Varna will also divert them to Burgas.

A month ago the concessionaire of the Black Sea airports Varna and Burgas Fraport Twin Star Airport Management announced it plans to invest BGN 170 M in their modernization in the next 3 years.

Fraport Twin Star Management plans to expand the terminals in both Varna and Burgas; after the expansion, Burgas Airport will be capable of handling 2.7 million passengers a year.

The airports in Black Sea cities Varna and Burgas have been granted on concession to Fraport Twin Star Airport Management company, a German-Bulgarian consortium between the Varna-based TIM group's holding "Chimimport" (40%) and the German "Fraport", since 2006.