Non-Subscriber ExtractBulgaria's airports prepare for bigger role |
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By Krasimir Krastanov
12 August 2009
The facade of the new Terminal 2 at Sofia International Airport. (Sofia International Airport)
Bulgaria has suffered in the past from chronic underinvestment in transport systems but attention is turning towards the country, because its geographical location gives it the potential to become an important connection between Central Europe and the Middle East.
Projects have been completed recently or are under way to boost capacity at Bulgarian airports. The east European country, which joined the EU in 2007, is served by five international airports: Sofia, Plovdiv, Bourgas, Varna and Gorna Oryahovitsa.
Sofia is the largest of these, located about 10 km east of the centre of the Bulgarian capital. The airport is a hub for main Bulgarian carriers Bulgaria Air and Hemus Air.
Work began in 2001 on a new second terminal (T2) at Sofia. The project cost more than EUR200 million (USD285.6 million) and was financed by the Bulgarian government, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, and the EU ISPA and PHARE funding mechanisms. T2 entered service on 27 December 2007, and total passenger throughput at Sofia International in 2008 reached 3.23 million (up by 17.6 per cent compared with the previous year).