Bulgaria Air is not and will not carrying out any flights for Alma Tour, the tour company with which it is locked in a dispute about millions of leva in arrears debt owed by the company to the airline, local media reported on September 12 2011.

On September 9, the airline refused to honour tickets booked by the tour company, a move that left hundreds of tourists, mostly Russians, stranded at airports at Bourgas and elsewhere. Bulgaria's Government has intervened to seek to resolve the dispute and has provided assistance - including by lending a state aircraft - to get the Russians and other passengers home.

With the assistance of a Russian tour company, several passengers have flown out on Bulgaria Air flights, as of September 11.

On September 12, news agency Focus quoted Bulgaria Air spokesperson Antonia Atasanova as saying that flights being carried were only those of Bulgaria Air and flights contracted with Alma Tour's subcontractors.

She was quoted as saying that there were no negotiations currently between the airline and Alma Tour.

"We have not met with them and have not carried out talks and we do not have any kind of relations," Atasanova said.

Bulgarian National Television said on September 12 that it was still not clear when an aircraft would be provided to return close to 150 Russian tourists to St Petersburg.

Three Bulgaria Air flights, to Moscow and St Petersburg, were expected in the next 24 hours, according to the report.

About 165 Russian tourists left for Moscow on a 9.30am flight on September 12, but there was no information how many were Alma Tour customers with re-purchased tickets.

For those tourists still stranded, the Union of Owners of Sunny Beach has stepped in to provide accommodation and food.

Speaking to Bulgarian National Television's morning programme on September 12, Deputy Transport Minister Ivo Marinov said that by the end of the day, a further 80 tourists would be flown out of Bourgas Airport and 200 from Varna Airport.

Meanwhile, Irina Tyurina, of the Russian Tourism Industry Union, has hit out at Bulgaria Air for its actions, television station bTV said.

She said that there was no reason, financial or other, to justify the actions of Bulgaria Air.

The airline knew that the tourists had paid for the tickets and Bulgaria Air's move amounted to blackmail, according to Tyurina.

Innocent people had been dumped into a conflict so that money could be recovered from a debtor, she said.

"The airline did not stop flights at the beginning of summer or during summer but waited until now, when it knew that travel agents were paying Alma Tour," Tyurina was quoted as saying.