From Sofia’s ever busier runways to the Black Sea hubs of Varna and Burgas, Bulgaria is about to gain a wave of new international connections in 2026. Low cost heavyweight Wizz Air, national carrier Bulgaria Air, and emerging long haul operator GullivAir are collectively rolling out new routes that will dramatically reshape how Bulgarians and visitors can move around Europe, the Mediterranean, and even the United States. For travellers, this means more nonstop options, more competition on prices, and a host of new city break and beach combinations that were previously awkward or impossible to reach directly.
Wizz Air’s Big 2026 Push From Sofia and Varna
Wizz Air is leading the charge with a substantial expansion of its Bulgarian network for summer 2026. The airline is basing an eighth Airbus A321neo aircraft at Sofia and using the additional capacity to roll out a mix of new leisure and city routes, as well as boosting frequencies on existing favourites. According to recent company announcements and industry reports, capacity from Sofia in summer 2026 will climb by more than three quarters compared with the previous year, underscoring Bulgaria’s role in Wizz Air’s growth strategy.
Among the headline additions are new links from Sofia to several high demand holiday destinations. A new Sofia to Palma de Mallorca service is due to start at the end of March 2026, giving direct access to one of Spain’s most popular Balearic islands for Bulgarian holidaymakers at the start of the season. The route is expected to run three times a week, timed to capture both long weekend getaways and week long summer breaks. Wizz Air is pairing these Spanish additions with new flights to Italian hotspots such as Lamezia Terme, a gateway to the beaches of Calabria that has been gaining traction with European sun seekers.
The airline is also multiplying its presence across the western Mediterranean. A newly announced Sofia to Santander route, starting in late March 2026, will create the first direct air bridge between the Bulgarian capital and Spain’s rugged Cantabrian coast. In June 2026, Wizz Air will add Sofia to Corfu, plugging Bulgarian passengers directly into one of Greece’s most picturesque Ionian islands, and inaugurate Varna to Katowice, tying the Black Sea coast to southern Poland and opening new flows of inbound and outbound tourism.
Beyond these Spain, Italy, and Greece routes, Wizz Air is strengthening its Mediterranean and Red Sea footprint with further Sofia departures to popular resort destinations such as Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, complementing its recently launched Sofia to Marrakesh and Sofia to Warsaw Modlin flights. Frequencies are increasing on core city routes including Barcelona, Milan Bergamo, Basel, and Madrid. For travellers, this translates into more choice of departure days and times, making it easier to tailor short breaks or longer itineraries without awkward overnight stops or long layovers.
Sofia to Rimini and Santander: New City Break Gateways
Two of the most intriguing additions to Bulgaria’s 2026 route map are Wizz Air’s planned Sofia to Rimini and Sofia to Santander services. Both routes are due to start at the end of March 2026 and will operate several times a week across the summer period, positioning them as core leisure links rather than niche seasonal experiments.
Rimini, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, offers Bulgarians a new-style twin centre break where beach time can be mixed with cultural excursions. The city itself is famed for long sandy beaches and nightlife, but it also serves as a launchpad for exploring the microstate of San Marino and the broader Emilia Romagna region with its food, historic towns, and cycling routes. For Italian visitors, a direct hop to Sofia delivers easy access to Bulgaria’s capital, Plovdiv’s Roman heritage, and road trips that reach the Black Sea or the Rhodope mountains in a matter of hours.
Santander, meanwhile, opens the door to a very different side of Spain compared with traditional Bulgarian favourites like Barcelona or the Costa Brava. The Cantabrian capital offers cooler summer temperatures, Atlantic surf beaches, and easy road or rail access to the green landscapes of northern Spain. This new route is particularly significant for independent travellers keen to combine Spain with France or Portugal by land, as northern Iberia’s transport networks make cross border itineraries straightforward once you arrive.
Both Rimini and Santander also serve as symbols of a broader trend in European aviation. As core city pairs become saturated, low cost carriers are moving into secondary yet highly attractive destinations, relying on pent up demand for more original, less crowded holiday choices. For Bulgarian travellers, these flights lower the psychological and financial barrier to swapping tried and tested resorts for new landscapes and cultures.
Bulgaria Air’s Premium Touch: Direct Sofia to Porto
While Wizz Air focuses on volume and ultra low fares, Bulgaria Air is carving out its own expansion niche aimed at travellers who value inclusive service and connections to established European hubs. The national airline has confirmed that from April 9, 2026, it will inaugurate a brand new route between Sofia and Porto, operating twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays throughout the summer season.
Porto has long been on many travellers’ wish lists, but until now it has been noticeably awkward to reach from Bulgaria, typically requiring a connection in a major European hub. The new nonstop link finally makes Portugal’s second city easily accessible to both leisure and business passengers. Known for its terraced riverside, azulejo tiled facades, and the nearby Douro Valley wine region, Porto combines the feel of a classic European city break with the option of coastal escapes and vineyard tours, all within easy reach of a three night itinerary from Sofia.
Bulgaria Air is positioning the Sofia to Porto route as a full service alternative to low cost offerings elsewhere in the market. Even the lowest economy fares will include a standard hand luggage allowance, a personal item, complimentary onboard catering with drinks and a light meal, and the option to check in without extra fees. For many travellers planning longer weekends or multi stop itineraries that might require more flexible baggage and ticket conditions, this bundled approach can prove competitive on overall trip cost once optional extras on low cost carriers are taken into account.
The Porto launch also fits within a wider 2026 campaign by Bulgaria Air to promote affordable access to key European capitals and business centres. Promotional activity around destinations such as Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Madrid signals that the national airline sees 2026 as a year to entice more Bulgarians back to flag carrier services through targeted offers and carefully chosen new points on the map. The emphasis is on stable schedules, central airports, and onboard service that appeals to both business and leisure passengers.
Nonstop Bulgaria to the United States: Sofia to New York and Chicago
Perhaps the most transformative development for Bulgarian air travel in 2026 is the planned launch of the country’s first ever scheduled nonstop flights to the United States. The government has confirmed that Bulgarian carrier GullivAir is working toward the introduction of direct services from Sofia to New York and Chicago from April 2026, following completion of regulatory procedures with United States aviation authorities and ongoing negotiations over airport slots.
If implemented on schedule, these routes will be a genuine milestone in Bulgaria’s aviation history. Bulgarian and American passengers have long relied on connecting flights through hubs such as Frankfurt, London, or Istanbul to travel between the two countries. Direct services cut travel time significantly, remove the risk of missed connections, and offer a more predictable experience for families and business travellers alike. For the sizeable Bulgarian communities in the New York and Chicago areas, the appeal of flying straight to Sofia without changing planes is self evident.
The economic implications are also considerable. Nonstop links to major United States gateways typically catalyse two way tourism growth, increase trade missions, and make it easier for international companies to view a country as a feasible base for regional operations. Bulgaria’s transport ministry has explicitly linked the launch of these services to broader ambitions of turning the country into a regional aviation hub, leveraging modernised airport infrastructure and concession backed investments at Sofia and secondary airports.
For travellers planning ahead, the key advantage of these direct flights lies in new itinerary possibilities. A visitor from Chicago could fly straight into Sofia, spend several days exploring the capital and Plovdiv, then connect onward to Burgas or Varna for a Black Sea stay, all on a Bulgarian based network. Likewise, Bulgarians will be able to access the United States East and Midwest more easily, using New York and Chicago as springboards for connecting onto domestic networks without the added layer of a European transfer.
Growing Role of Varna, Burgas, and Plovdiv as Regional Gateways
While Sofia understandably dominates the headlines, the country’s regional airports are also gaining ground as 2026 approaches. Varna and Burgas, the two principal Black Sea gateways, continue to benefit from airlines targeting both inbound beach tourism and outbound city breaks. Wizz Air’s earlier expansion at Varna, including the introduction of year round services such as Varna to Leipzig and direct flights from Abu Dhabi, has already started to reshape the airport’s profile from purely seasonal charter hub to a more diversified base.
In 2026 the trend is reinforced by additional capacity and routes that feed northern and central European markets. The upcoming Varna to Katowice link is one example, creating a direct pipeline between Poland’s industrial south and Bulgaria’s coastline. Such routes not only attract holidaymakers heading to resorts north and south of Varna, they also facilitate visits by the Bulgarian diaspora, business delegations, and students moving between the two countries.
On the other side of the Black Sea coast, Burgas continues to leverage both scheduled and charter operations to connect with central and western Europe. Bulgaria Air’s seasonal Sofia to Burgas flights, which ramp up to daily frequencies during the summer months, are designed to make domestic seaside weekend trips as easy as hopping on a train. Internationally, Burgas stands to benefit indirectly from the surge in long haul arrivals if GullivAir’s United States routes proceed as planned, with onward domestic connections turning the seaside city into part of a broader hub and spoke network.
Plovdiv is also entering a more active role in Bulgaria’s connectivity story. The transport ministry has cited planned or developing routes from Plovdiv to cities such as Milan and Bratislava, as well as emerging links to destinations like Marrakech and Abu Dhabi. Although many of these are still in earlier stages and may evolve before final schedules are published, the underlying direction is clear: secondary Bulgarian cities are being drawn more firmly onto Europe’s low cost map, which will gradually reduce the need for travellers in central and southern Bulgaria to route everything through the capital.
How These New Routes Will Change Your Trip Planning
For travellers, the wave of 2026 route launches from Bulgaria is more than just a set of new lines on a map. It reshapes how you can conceive and structure your journeys, whether you live in the country or are planning to visit. Nonstop connections to new leisure destinations such as Corfu, Palma de Mallorca, Lamezia Terme, Rimini, and Santander encourage the kind of short, focused trips that were once reserved for closer European capitals. Instead of needing a week to justify a multi stop itinerary with a connection, a four day break to northern Spain or Italy’s Adriatic Riviera becomes both time and budget friendly.
At the same time, longer and more ambitious routes, notably the planned Sofia to New York and Sofia to Chicago nonstop services, open entirely new horizons for multi country trips. A traveller from the United States could arrive in Sofia, explore the city, continue to Porto on Bulgaria Air’s new route, spend time in Portugal, then return to Bulgaria via another European connection before flying home. Bulking up the options from Sofia and Varna also makes it simpler to design circular itineraries around the Balkans and the Mediterranean, looping through Greece, Italy, or Spain without retracing your steps.
Another important shift is the growing ability to fine tune departure days and trip lengths. With Wizz Air increasing frequencies on many of its existing routes and layering new options on top, you are less tied to weekends or awkward midweek departure combinations. More weekday options allow business travellers to attend meetings without cutting into personal time, while leisure travellers can take advantage of lower midweek fares where demand is softer. For families, better spread capacity over the summer period can help smooth out the worst of peak season price spikes.
Finally, the ever stronger distinction between ultra low cost and full service offerings from Bulgaria will matter more in 2026. Travellers will be able to choose between Wizz Air’s stripped back, pay for what you use model on many leisure routes and Bulgaria Air’s more inclusive approach on select European city links. On long haul, GullivAir’s forthcoming intercontinental flights may introduce a third style of travel, potentially combining competitive fares with long haul comforts and the appeal of a home grown carrier. The overall result is a more nuanced, flexible menu of choices tailored to different budgets and expectations.
Practical Tips for Booking Bulgaria’s 2026 Routes
With so many new options appearing on the schedules, savvy planning will help you get the most out of Bulgaria’s expanding aviation map. First, pay close attention to seasonality. Many of the new routes, including Sofia to Porto, Rimini, Palma de Mallorca, Corfu, and Santander, are specifically framed as summer season services running from late March or April through to October. Availability in winter 2026 and beyond is not guaranteed, so if you have a particular destination in mind, look at dates within that window and avoid assuming year round operation until airlines confirm it.
Second, consider pairing destinations to maximise the benefit of direct flights. For example, you might fly Sofia to Rimini on Wizz Air, spend time along the Adriatic coast and in San Marino, then travel overland to another Italian city such as Bologna or Florence before returning to Bulgaria on a separate route. Similarly, the Sofia to Porto route can be the anchor for a broader Portugal and Spain trip, using trains and regional flights to reach Lisbon, the Douro Valley, Galicia, or even northern Spain’s Bay of Biscay towns, then looping back to Porto to return to Sofia.
Third, remember that introductory fares on new routes are often capacity limited and highly dynamic. Wizz Air in particular tends to launch routes with headline prices that rise quickly as seats are snapped up. Bulgaria Air’s early bird promotions on its 2026 network also come with booking deadlines and travel date windows. If you know you want to travel in peak months such as July or August, it is wise to monitor announcements and book soon after schedules are published, rather than waiting for last minute deals that may never materialise on popular dates.
Lastly, keep an eye on how the new long haul options develop. Slot negotiations and regulatory clearances for Sofia to New York and Sofia to Chicago are complex and can influence exact launch dates and frequencies. Once confirmed, those routes will become anchors around which you can build ambitious itineraries combining Bulgaria with multiple United States destinations, taking advantage of domestic connections on the American side and enhanced internal links between Sofia, the Black Sea, and Plovdiv on the Bulgarian side. For travel planners willing to think creatively, 2026 promises to be the year Bulgaria’s sky opens wider than ever before.