We, the undersigned, ask for direct regular flights between Bulgaria and Scotland. We are all frequent flyers between Scotland and Bulgaria, therefore if there were direct flights at a reasonable price, we would prefer to fly with the airline offering them. At the moment the only direct regular flights from Bulgaria are to either London or Manchester. That is why anyone interested in flying between those two countries has to travel to one of those two cities, which makes the total costs higher and the trip longer. There is a big market, since there are over 1900 Bulgarians working, studying or living in Scotland, as evident from the likes on this Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BGinScotland). Furthermore, each year the number of Bulgarians coming to study at the Scottish Universities rises, while the number of seasonal workers is also quite big. It will also rise, as the work restrictions for Bulgarian nationals will be lifted in the end of 2013. On the other hand, if an airline decides to start offering direct flights it will also benefit from tourism, since Bulgaria is one of the most visited travel destinations for the UK. As evident from the statistics published on the website of the Office for National Statistics, in 2011 alone there were more than 289,000 visitors from the UK to Bulgaria, while there were also 92,000 visitors from Bulgaria to the UK (http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-279984). Flights to either Glasgow or Edinburgh would also benefit from the existing connections to these airports, especially in regards to Northern England. Once we get 1,000 signatures, this petition will be emailed to all airlines currently offering direct flights between Bulgaria and the UK.

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