Sofia Airport

Sofia Airport (IATA: SOF, ICAO: LBSF) (Bulgarian: Летище София, Letishte Sofiya), sometimes also called Letishte Sofia-Vrazhdebna (Bulgarian: Летище София-Враждебна, Letishte Sofiya-Vrazhdebna), is the main airport in Sofia, Bulgaria. Located 5 km (3.1 mi) east of central Sofia. In 2010 the number of passengers was 3.3 million. 

History

The airport was initially built in the late 1930s on a site 6.3 km (3.9 mi) (7.5 km (4.7 mi) by road then; later 9 km (5.6 mi) by road and today 10.2 km (6.3 mi) and up to 11.4 km (7.1 mi)) distant from the geographical centre of Sofia as a replacement of that city's small civil airport at Bozhurishte. Sofia then had under 250,000 inhabitants. The airport continues to serve the same city, which in 2006 passed the two million inhabitant mark.

During the Second World War, the facilities were used by the military. Mail, perishable freight and passenger operations began in 1947 from buildings on the north side of the airport. The passenger terminal (now Terminal 1) on the south side of the airport was completed during the Second World War in the manner of a then-modern European railway terminus to designs by the architect Ivan Marangozov. It opened after several years of delay in 1947. The structure comprised a government wing to the west, an international handling area in the middle, and a domestic handling area to the east. At that time, it was planned that the airport would eventually have two intersecting runways orientated at a 30-degree angle to each other.

The terminal had substantially reached its capacity of some 600,000 passengers a year by the later 1960s and was subjected to a number of refurbishments and extensions beginning in the spring of 1968. In 1975, a new international arrivals handling extension was opened to the west of the building, the domestic area to the east was enlarged, the government handling area was removed to a dedicated terminal some distance to the west, a VIP handling area opened in the old terminal, , apron area was extended to the east and new taxiways opened. A bonded warehouse opened to the east of the terminal square in 1969 and several new hangars followed to the east of the first maintenance base in the 1970s. A new checked baggage handling system opened to the north of the building in the early 1980s, cosmetic and traffic reorganising refurbishments were carried out in 1990, with a substantial landside extension following in 2000.

By the late 1970s, the terminal was handling in the region of three million passengers a year, a million of them on domestic routes. Passenger numbers fell off sharply after the 1979 CMEA ("Comecon") oil price shock and recovered to just over a million a year by the late 1980s. In the early and mid-1990s, domestic traffic practically ceased, while foreign traffic reduced significantly. The latter began growing apace in the late 1990s and early 2000s to reach its current levels. The terminal was last refurbished partially in 1990. In 2000 it underwent a wholesale update in which the international arrivals area was moved to the east wing where domestic handling had been, the former international arrivals area to the west was closed, and the layout of the central international departures area was changed in line with world developments. Despite the works to the old terminal, the airport was becoming overwhelmed with passenger traffic.

Options for different airport developments began to be examined in the mid-1960s. One option was to relocate the facility to a new site, with some locations up to 70 km (43 mi) from Sofia). Another option involved extending the airport's area radically to the north-east and gradually removing the focus of the airport there. A third option was to develop substantially the same site. By the later 1980s the authorities had settled on the last option. Project design, involving a new terminal to the east of the old facility, a new runway to the north of (and parallel to) the existing runway, and taxiways, was completed by the mid-1990s. A finance package involving very significant European and Kuwaiti investment was initially agreed in 1998 and was in place by 2000. Works began in 2001. The new runway and some taxiways were completed in mid-2006. Terminal 2 was formally inaugurated on 27 December 2006.

Design and construction of a new control tower was mooted in 2006 but this project appeared to be in abeyance by 2008. Over the years, Sofia Airport has been criticised for its lack of world class air freight facilities and for some access problems. Passengers to and from the Bulgarian interior have to access or egress the airport through crowded rail and coach facilities in central Sofia. A rail link has been mooted on several occasions since the 1960s but no moves have been documented to its implementation. The airport is occasionally criticised as a source of environmental noise and pollution and strict noise abatement procedures have been enforced for departing traffic since the mid-1970s, while arriving traffic is generally routed to approach the field from the east, clear of Sofia.

A significant and recurring operational criticism of Sofia Airport has concerned its historical lack of all-weather operations capability. Though the new runway was designed for ICAO Category 3 operations, in 2007 it emerged that radio interference from security fencing, and most significantly from a large newly-built lorry park, prevented certification (and hence use) of the associated radio navigational aids. During the winter months, the airport, located on a high alluvial plain surrounded by mountains, suffers from very significant and frequent fog precipitation. In such circumstances, flights are redirected to diversion airports in Bulgaria or neighbouring countries, lengthening journeys by many hours.

Airport reconstruction

According to the plan a new Sofia Airport terminal was built to the east of the current terminal, and a second runway was constructed alongside the existing one. The existing runway has been turned into a taxiway parallel to the newly constructed runway. Both cross the Iskar river. The new runway was opened in August 2006, while the new terminal opened in December 2006.

Total cost of the project was planned at 200 million euros. Finance was secured in 1997-98 from the European Investment Bank (60 million euro), Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (12.3 million Kuwaiti dinars, approx. 41.5 million euro), and the European Union PHARE Programme (7.6 million euro). In August 2000 an ISPA grant of 50 million euro was allocated and in December the Financing Memorandum was signed.

The construction works were in two lots: the new terminal with its surrounding infrastructure, and the new runway. The first lot was allocated to the German branch of Austrian company Strabag,[3] while the second lot was won by a consortium of Kuwaiti company Mohamed Abdulmohsin al-Kharafi & Sons and UAE-based Admak General Contracting Company.

Delays to terminal construction

The initial completion deadline for the new terminal was 15 December 2004 to a total budget of 112.2 million euro. Immediately after works started, Strabag contested the geological surveys by Dutch consutants NACO B.V. and demanded additional funding for unexpected additional works. The delay was ten months, and construction resumed after the Bulgarian government agreed to augment the project's value by 4.8 million euro and extend the deadline to 31 August 2005

In 2004 Strabag demanded an additional 6 million euro due to rising steel prices. The Ministry of Transportation rejected the claim, backed by a report from NACO. In May 2005 the contractor threatened to take the case to international arbitration. In August 2005, it became clear that Strabag would not be able to meet the changed deadline, slippage being put at six to eight weeks. In November 2005 Strabag asked for eight months' further extension.

Runway system

On 31 August 2006, Sofia Airport set its new runway system to operation, replacing the old and out-of-date facilities. The new runway is offset at 210 m (690 ft) to the north of the old runway, with the eastern end of its 3,600 m (11,811 ft) long strip crossing over the Iskar river bed on a specially constructed bridge. New rapid and connecting taxiways are built additionally to open way for 200 aircraft movements per hour at a high level of safety. The navigational aids installed on the new runway enable landing operations under low visibility conditions at category III of the ICAO standards.

Two de-icing platforms are constructed to allow centralised de-icing procedures in winter, They are just an element of the overall strategy of Sofia Airport for environmental protection and reduction of the harmful effects resulting from the airport operations.

Lufthansa Technik-Sofia

Lufthansa Technik Sofia was founded in late 2007 as a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik (80%) and the Bulgarian Aviation Group (20%). With the foundation of Lufthansa Technik Sofia, the Lufthansa Technik Group has created a fifth platform for the overhaul and maintenance of narrowbody aircraft in Europe. The Bulgarian facility serves customers in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The facility has undergone a major reconstruction and upgrading, with the target to be ready for the heaviest stage of Aircraft maintenance checks D-Check, that will be carried out in Bulgaria. Meanwhile the more than 350 staff trained in Bulgaria and at Lufthansa Technik facilities in Shannon Base Maintenance operations have started in the fourth quarter of 2008 with one Airbus A321 from Lufthansa as the first customer.

The New Control Tower

Tender for the construction of a new tower for flight control at Sofia Airport is expected to start within a month and a half, said the director of DP RVD (RVD) Dian Dinev during a seminar on the progress of transport projects in the country. The project was launched in the mid-2006 Indicative value is several tens of million BGN. The actual construction is expected to continue year and a half. It is planned to be built and a new navigation system for connecting pilots with air traffic controller worth 10-12 million in the airport will be made and a new radar system, whose construction will begin early next year. The total investment program of the ATC for the years 2010-2014 is 110 million, as funds are fully borne by the ATC and were collected from airport charges. Dinev said that implementing the plan from 2007 to 2011 progressively reduced fees. Operations Director at the airport Kabakchiev Nicholas said that until about a month the airport will be installed 40 machines for coffee and snacks to enable travelers to buy these products at lower prices than those in the cafes at the aerodrome.

For five years owner "Air Traffic Control (ATC) will invest 110 million leva in infrastructure. Investments are made entirely with company funds collected from fees on overflight and landing. The main investments relate to further improve flight safety, so the money will be invested in radar and navigation equipment of last generation. Completely new tower for flight control will be built by mid-2012, which will cost several tens of million, said air traffic control. The winning design was chosen over two years, and the procedure for the new tower started in 2006 to permit funding, however, was given until this year. The process for selection of construction will start within a month. This building has a special status because it will be a functioning airport, explained by ATC requirements and therefore the contractor will be very high. Our ATC has streamline flight paths of planes that pass through Bulgarian airspace, which is linked both to shorten the duration of flights and the commitments made under the "open skies" whereby through optimization in routing achieves lower fuel emissions. The construction of a control system for Airfield beacon through Sofia Airport, which will be invested approximately 12 million According to European Directive tsvetotehnicheskoto security at airports, which until now has been concern of ATC, 2011 must become the responsibility of each airport. From ATC reported that next year the fee for overflight country declined by another 3 euros, and has so far achieved a reduction of almost 10 euros and then a period when some European countries raise the price to fly through their space.

Sofia Airport Upgrade

Approved the project for expansion of the passenger compartment in the area for arriving non-Schengen Terminal 2 of Sofia Airport. Will be erected and a new glass wall will be built two permanent staircases, announced Monday. A broadening of the scope for passengers and called. sterile area for domestic flights. All investment is over 1 million. This was announced to journalists Nikolay Kabakchiev, COO of Sofia Airport. He did this at a seminar on the progress in transport development in Bansko. Approved the project for expansion of the passenger compartment in the area for arriving non-Schengen Terminal 2 of Sofia Airport, he said. From 2012 to 2018 no problem working with airport X-rays and metal detectors in the EU standard 2. Detection limits and detectors with which the requirement for liquids will be abandoned, meets standard 3 informed Kabakchiev. This is a transition to a qualitatively new standard with a special X-ray graphics. One such facility is worth over 1 million and the airport are mounted on at least four, "he said. Producers will be ready with the production of such X-rays in the middle of 2011 and then they can be purchased anywhere in Europe. Now the airport is still working on a standard and ongoing process for the supply of standard X-ray 2. Projects relating to airspace present Dian Dinev, Director General of SE "Air Traffic". He said the forthcoming announcement of a contract to build new aerial tower at the airport which will cost several tens of million BGN. Work is also in the possibility of providing weather information directly to the needs of air traffic control. Perform specific projects to open the electronic system and opportunities to increase revenue. At a European Parliament relating to requirements for lighting service at airports, already has a working group of experts said Dinev.

Over 40 machines for food, drinks and coffee will be installed at Sofia Airport a month. This will significantly reduce food prices, which passengers can eat before the flight, said Nikolai Kabakchiev, COO of Sofia Airport. Already signed a contract with a company that will deliver the machines and will be responsible for charging them. Until a few weeks for the first time in our country will be equipped with four separate machines for check in, which will allow people to place themselves on the printed board cards to choose their seat on which to sit and if you have luggage only leave it to the bar where the staff put the tag. New and more attractive prices for goods at airport stores that compete with those of major European airports, promised by the management of the airport. This is a process that will continue to have people happy with its passage through the airport. In this regard, large free areas initially will be used as an exhibition, so that departing passengers to diversify and come first to see something really beautiful, said Transport Minister Alexander Tsvetkov. Entirely new business area will start at Terminal 2, which will vary in their comfort from the existing. Terminal 1 of this zone will cost 15 Euros. Kabakchiev added that since the summer to the airport now has signed 18 new contracts giving commercial areas, and tender prices have been reduced by about 30%. By the end of next year's X-ray examination of luggage must be replaced with those of new generation, and metal detector frames. But they will not be the last generation that will enable the board to board liquids. This class of metal detectors have not yet been produced worldwide, but their price will be about 1 million per unit. Still pending repair of airport Terminal 2, where the arrivals hall to be constituted in a manner suitable for the separation of passengers landing from countries outside Schengen. The total cost of this repair, the installation of two stairways, will amount to about 1,5 million.

Terminals

Terminal 1

This terminal, which is well known to the inbound/outbound passengers in Sofia, now has a new name - Terminal 1. It was built in the first half of the 20th century and opened on 16 September 1937. It has been extended and improved many times, fundamentally renovated in 2000, still making, though, curious allusions to the latest history of the continent. Terminal 1 offers easy access, simple procedures and efficient services up to the modern airport standard.

Terminal 2

The waiting area of the old Terminal 1

Terminal 2 was officially opened on 27 December 2006 with the symbolic arrival of Bulgaria Air flight FB 408 from Brussels. It was one of the biggest projects in Bulgaria to receive funds from the EU ISPA programme. The price includes the new terminal, new aircraft parking aprons, upgrading the existing aircraft parking aprons and the construction of connecting taxiways. The terminal has seven air-bridges (gates A1, B5-9 and C1), 38 check-in desks and covers an area of 50,000 sq m and has a car park for 820 vehicles. It is located to the east of Terminal 1 and is significantly bigger than the old one which continues to serve low-cost and charter airlines.

The passenger terminal building is designed with a capacity of 2,000 peak hour passengers or up to 2.6 million passengers a year, plus 26,000 tonnes of luggage. For the first time in Bulgaria, a terminal has airbridge-equipped gates instead of relying on airside busses.

The Sofia Airport Centre, a premiere corporate office, hospitality and logistics centre in Bulgaria is being constructed in the vicinity.

The infrastructure surrounding the building was expected to be completed in 2007. It includes a new dual carriageway road connecting the terminal to the existing airport road, and landscaping including an artificial lake and a fountain.The airlines ticketing offices, tourist and car hire desks, banks, post office, and cafeterias in Terminal 2 are located in the public area. The travel retail shops, Bulgarian wine and spirits shop and Business lounges are located airside beyond the area of border control. Terminal 2 is designed with special attention to disabled passengers. Their access to the different terminal levels and the multi-storey car park is facilitated via lifts and escalators.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled flights

Airlines Destinations Terminal

Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo 2

Aerosvit Airlines Kiev-Boryspil 2

Aerosvit Airlines operated by Dniproavia Kiev-Boryspil 2

Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2

Air Malta Athens [begins 28 March], Malta 2

Alitalia Rome-Fiumicino 2

Austrian Airlines Vienna 2

Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways Vienna 2

BH Air Seasonal: Bristol, Cardiff, Dubai, East Midlands, Edinburgh, London-Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle, Sharjah 1

British Airways London-Heathrow 2

Bulgaria Air Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Burgas, Frankfurt, Larnaca, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Málaga, Milan-Malpensa, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, Tel Aviv, Tripoli, Varna, Vienna, Zürich

Seasonal: Alicante, Antalya, Aqaba, Beirut [restarts 1 May], Cairo, Dubai, Hurghada, Katowice, Kiev-Boryspil, Malta, Monastir, Sharm el-Sheikh, Skopje, St Petersburg, Tenerife-South, Tirana 2

Cimber Sterling Copenhagen 1

Cyprus Airways Larnaca 2

Czech Airlines Prague 2

Donbassaero Seasonal: Donetsk 1

EasyJet London-Gatwick, Manchester 1

El Al Tel Aviv 2

Germanwings Cologne/Bonn 1

LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw 2

Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich 2

Lufthansa Regional operated by Augsburg Airways Munich 2

Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings Düsseldorf 2

Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine Frankfurt 2

Malév Hungarian Airlines Budapest 2

Monarch Airlines Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol, London-Gatwick 2

Niki Vienna 2

Nouvelair Seasonal: Monastir 1

Olympic Air Athens 2

Pegasus Airlines Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen 2

Pegasus Airlines Seasonal: Antalya, Bodrum 1

Qatar Airways Doha [begins 14 September] 2

Swiss International Air Lines Zürich 2

TAROM Bucharest-Henri Coandă 2

Thomas Cook Airlines Seasonal: London-Gatwick, Manchester 2

Thomson Airways Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol, London-Gatwick, Manchester 2

Travel Service Airlines Seasonal: Katowice 2

Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk 2

Wind Rose Aviation Seasonal: Kharkiv 1

Wizz Air Barcelona, Beauvais-Tillé, Brussels South-Charleroi, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Forlì, Hahn, London-Luton, Madrid, Milan-Orio al Serio, Rome-Fiumicino, Valencia, Venice-Treviso

Seasonal: Málaga [begins 4 April] 1

Charter flights

Terminal 2

Airlines Destinations Terminal

Air VIA Monastir, Sharjah, Varna 1

Bulgarian Air Charter Cairo, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Lisbon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Porto 1

North American Airlines Military charters 1

Omni Air International Military charters 1

Ryan International Airlines Military charters 1

SunExpress Antalya 1

World Airways Military charters (Atlanta, Bishkek, Leipzig, etc.)  1

Cargo airlines

Toward RVD

Airlines Destinations

Cargoair Charters

DHL Express Leipzig/Halle

DHL Aviation operated by European Air Transport Bratislava

TNT Airways Liège

UPS Airlines operated by Farnair Switzerland Basel/Mulhouse

Traffic figures

Traffic at Sofia Airport

Year Passengers Change Cargo (tonnes) Change Aircraft movements Change

1998 1,250,700 10,180 24,726

1999 1,236,610 1.1% 12,378 21.6% 25,178 1.8%

2000 1,127,866 8.8% 11,036 10.8% 24,785 1.6%

2001 1,107,682 1.8% 10,381 5.9% 21,860 11.8%

2002 1,214,198 9.6% 12,482 20.2% 24,211 10.8%

2003 1,356,469 11.7% 13,461 7.8% 25,517 5.4%

2004 1,614,304 19.0% 14,472 7.5% 28,700 12.5%

2005 1,874,000 16.1% 14,725 1.7% 32,188 12.2%

2006 2,209,350 17.9% 15,241 3.5% 38,119 18.4%

2007 2,745,880 24.3% 17,392 14.1% 43,005 12.8%

2008 3,230,696 17.7% 18,294 5.2% 48,626 13.1%

2009 3,134,657 3.0% 15,093 17.5% 45,698 6.0%

2010 3,296,936 5.2% 15,322 1.5% 47,061 3.0%

2011 (01.01-02.28) 509,623 2.8% 2,500 6.4% 7,246 1.8%

Transport links

Bus

The bus routes connecting Sofia Airport to the city centre

Two bus routes (No 84 and 384) connect the airport. Line 84 goes to the Sofia University and Line 384 to the Mladost 1 Metro Station (working hours 5 a.m. - 23 p.m every 20-30 minutes).[18] Note: The image on the right shows the old situation from 2010, in January 2011 the bus lines changed to the above descripted situation)

Shuttle bus

A small shuttle bus (No 30) connects the first terminal with the city centre and Sofia's biggest residential area of Lyulin.

Taxi

Taxis are available at the landside of the arrivals areas of Terminals 1 and 2. OK Supertrans is the official taxi provider to Sofia airport. Taxi cost 5 - 7 Euro (10 to 15 leva) to the city centre. Fraudsters, posing as a taxi driver in the lobby often require 50 or more € for a ride into town. The official price must be showed on the window of each cab - in is currently (02/2011) 0,59/0,70 Lewa per kilometre (day/night).

Private transfer service can be booked in advance at HHB Transfers

A Shuttle service from Sofia Airport terminal one and two runs in the winter season to Bansko Bansko Express Shuttle Service

Metro

An extension of the Sofia Metro Line 1 is planned to reach the airport in 2014. Construction began on July 2010.

Incidents and accidents

On December 22, 1971, a Balkan Airlines Il-18, crashed en route to Algeria. 28 people on board died.

On 10 January 1984, a Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashed on approach in bad weather. All 50 people on board died.

On 2 August 1988, a Balkan Airlines Yak-40, crashed in Iskar river. There were 28 fatalities from 37 passengers on board.

(source:wikipedia)