Flights between the UK and Bulgaria: what a delay is worth
Every route the CAA tracks between the UK and Bulgaria falls in the same distance band (Over 1,500 to 3,500 km), so a delay of 3 hours or more pays a flat £350 per passenger under UK261 if the flight left the UK (€400 under EU261 if it left Bulgaria instead and the airline was a UK or EU carrier). Find your route below.
| Route | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|
| Stansted → Sofia | £350 |
| Luton → Sofia | £350 |
| Heathrow → Sofia | £350 |
| Luton → Varna | £350 |
| Manchester → Burgas | £350 |
| Stansted → Plovdiv | £350 |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) → Sofia | £350 |
| Luton → Plovdiv | £350 |
| Luton → Burgas | £350 |
| Birmingham → Sofia | £350 |
| Bristol → Sofia | £350 |
| Edinburgh → Sofia | £350 |
| Gatwick → Sofia | £350 |
| Birmingham → Burgas | £350 |
| Gatwick → Burgas | £350 |
All 15 tracked UK ↔ Bulgaria routes, sorted by yearly flight volume. Figures are per passenger under UK261; EU261 pays €400 for the same band.
In the last 12 months, 9,169 flights operated between the UK and Bulgaria: 69.2% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 37 flights' worth of eligible passengers in a year. The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the route both ways.
Punctuality is up on last year: 69.2% of flights ran on time against 63.8% in the twelve months before, and the average delay fell from 21.6 to 17.2 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
9,169
On time
69.2%
▲ 5.4pts vs last year
Avg delay
17.2 min
▼ 4.4 min vs last year
3h+ delayed
0.4%
Cancelled
0.2%
Bulgaria, month by month
Worst month: July 2025, averaging 26.3 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and Bulgaria
| UK airport | Destination | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|---|
| Stansted | Sofia | £350 |
| Luton | Sofia | £350 |
| Heathrow | Sofia | £350 |
| Luton | Varna | £350 |
| Manchester | Burgas | £350 |
| Stansted | Plovdiv | £350 |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | Sofia | £350 |
| Luton | Plovdiv | £350 |
| Luton | Burgas | £350 |
| Birmingham | Sofia | £350 |
| Bristol | Sofia | £350 |
| Edinburgh | Sofia | £350 |
| Gatwick | Sofia | £350 |
| Birmingham | Burgas | £350 |
| Gatwick | Burgas | £350 |
UK airports flying to Bulgaria
| Airport | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Luton | 0.1% | 74.7% |
| Stansted | 0.2% | 74.2% |
| Heathrow | 0.1% | 80.5% |
| Manchester | 1.3% | 49.2% |
| Gatwick | 0.7% | 69.1% |
| Birmingham | 1.2% | 52.3% |
| Bristol | 0.8% | 66.5% |
| Liverpool (John Lennon) | 0.7% | 64.9% |
| Edinburgh | 0.9% | 58.9% |
| Newcastle | <0.5% | 75.5% |
| Leeds Bradford | <0.5% | 21.7% |
| Glasgow | <0.5% | 75.9% |
| East Midlands International | <0.5% | 52.3% |
| Cardiff Wales | <0.5% | 86.5% |
| Belfast International | 6.9% | 63.8% |
Airlines flying between the UK and Bulgaria
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | 0.4% | 71.4% |
| Wizz Air | 0.3% | 74.4% |
| Jet2.com | 0.7% | 44.4% |
| TUI Airways | 1.8% | 65.9% |
| easyJet | 0.2% | 72.5% |
| Bulgaria Air | <0.5% | 80.9% |
| British Airways | 0.3% | 80.0% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving the UK for Bulgaria is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from Bulgaria, are covered too if a UK or EU airline operated them; a return flight on a non-UK, non-EU carrier falls outside UK261, though the Montreal Convention and Bulgaria's own rules may still give you a claim. See the full breakdown on the 3-hour rule. Cancelled instead of delayed? Broadly the same amounts apply under different conditions. See cancelled flight compensation.
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Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics, July 2025 to June 2026. Analysis by CheckFlightCompensation; the CAA is credited as the data source as its publication conditions require. Figures cover the 25 largest UK airports.