The licensing commission of the Russian Transport Ministry rejected the applications for chartered flights to Bulgarian Black Sea of 6 Russian aviation companies, the Vedomosti newspaper announced. Most of them have already signed contracts with tour operators for the 2001 summer season and it is now late to cancel flights, as the seats are sold out. It is still unclear if the licensed airlines will be able to take over these flights. The weekly number of flights is thus reduced from 12 to 6. Apart from the traditional carriers Aeroflot and Aviaexpresscruise, four charter companies will fly to Bulgaria-East Lines, Atlant-Soyuz, Continental Airlines and GTK Russia.