site.btaSofia Airport: High-Flyer at 85

Sofia Airport, Bulgaria's oldest, largest and busiest civil aviation hub, celebrates its 85th birthday on September 16.

On this date in 1937, King Boris III decreed the allotment of land for construction of the airport on its present site, south of the then village and now quarter of Vrazhdebna and 12 km northeast of the capital city centre.

This 440 ha area was the third to be used as an airfield in Sofia, after the Central Railway Station (from where mail started to be transported by air to Gorna Oyahovitsa, Varna, Ruse, Plovdiv, Yambol and Burgas in 1922) and Bozhurishte (where Air France opened the first air service to and from Bulgaria, on its Paris-Belgrade-Istanbul route, in March 1927). Next, passenger flights linked Bozhurishte with Berlin and Thessaloniki in 1931, Vienna in 1938, Tirana, Rome and Moscow in 1939, and Bucharest and Athens in 1940. The first scheduled domestic air service, on the Sofia-Ruse-Varna route, also began from that airfield in 1927. After Bozhurishte was turned over to the air force, all civil aviation operations were moved to Vrazhdebna, and the first post-war domestic line, to Burgas via Plovdiv, was launched from there in June 1947.

In September 2022, a total of 30 airlines (5 Bulgarian and 25 foreign ones) serviced Sofia International Airport, flying to and from 92 airports at 86 destinations (84 international and 2 domestic) in 36 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Negotiations are underway on starting almost 100 new routes. Air tickets for over 65 airlines can be bought at the airport. A total of 17 car-rental companies have offices at the two terminals.

Passenger traffic through the airport has been growing steadily, from 1.2 million in 1998 to 2.2 million in 2006, 3.2 million in 2008, 4 million in 2015, and 6.5 million in 2017, peaking at 7,107,096 in 2019. Aircraft movements have shown a similar trend: 24,726 in 1998, 38,119 in 2006, 48,626 in 2008, 44,416 in 2015, 57,670 in 2017, and 61,371 in 2019.

Passenger Facilities

Sofia Airport opened its first passenger waiting room in 1939. A passenger terminal (now called Terminal 1) was constructed in 1938-1949 and renovated between 1951 and 1965. In order to increase the passenger-handling capacity to 1,000 per hour, the building was thoroughly remodelled over eight months in 2000, abandoning the segregation between international and domestic services and extending the departures and arrivals areas in the central and eastern wings to 15,000 sq m. The three original massive wrought-iron chandeliers and wall mosaic maps of Bulgaria and Europe from 1949 were kept, but the facade, previously surfaced with Vratsa whitestone, was now clad in blue glass and aluminium fascia. After the reconstruction, the terminal had 20 check-in counters, 20 passport-control booths, six boarding gates, a cafe bar, a duty-free shop, a crew lounge, an information desk, two baby/parent rooms, and a post office. The special VIP lounge was furnished in pastel blue and grey in 2002. For the first time, the terminal was outfitted with appropriate access and egress ramps and toilet facilities for disabled persons. An air-conditioned ambulift with full conveniences for wheelchaired passengers was installed in August 2003.

A completely new steel, aluminium and glass passenger terminal was built at the westernmost part of the airport, some 1,000 m from the previous structure, between 2003 and 2006. It has four levels above and four below ground and consists of a main building with panorama stairs, lifts and escalators and a pier with nine gates, of which two are serviced by buses and seven by boarding bridges, including three designed to fit larger aircraft like Airbus A340 and Boeing 747. Terminal 2 occupies a footprint of 26,000 sq m and a gross floor area of 66,420 sq m. Its 2.6 million annual passenger-handling capacity (2,000 per peak hour) is double the throughput of the old building. The 34 check-in counters and the customs and passport control areas are on the ground and upper floor, and there are also a business lounge and a transit lounge, a religious worship area, a baby/parent room, restaurants, cafes, bars, fast-food outlets and duty-free shops totalling over 4,000 sq m, airline offices, a post office, bank offices, bureaux de change and tourist help desks, full disabled facilities, and at least 10 lavatories.

In December 2013, Terminal 2 was extended northward, which allowed it to handle some 200,000 more passengers annually.

Plans for further redevelopment of Terminal 2 were unveiled in June 2022, including a new baggage handling system and twice as many arrivals luggage carousels, increasing the number of check-in desks to 52, increasing the number of security screening points from 6 to 11, completely new retail areas of nearly 2,000 sq m, and entirely reorganized eateries on nearly 3,400 sq m. This will enable the new building to also take in the low-cost and charter carriers that currently operate from Terminal 1, which will be used for VIP and business aviation services only. Three additional boarding bridges will be built to accommodate wide-body airliners, a new taxiway will be constructed, and a separate apron for business aviation will be set up. The target is to achieve a 5-star regional airport status for Sofia by 2028.

A Terminal 3 is planned to be built by 2030.

Aircraft Facilities

The airport's original 45-metre-wide earthen runway was laid out in 1939-1940, when two hangars were also built. A new 1,050-by-80-metre asphalt-concrete runway was constructed between 1943 and 1948, and by 1965 it was lengthened to 2,720 metres to accommodate large turbo-jet aircraft.

A new, 3,600-metre long, 45-metre wide runway went into operation at the end of August 2006. It was set up 210 m north of the old one. The old runway was converted into a parallel taxiway. It was extended eastward to a total length of 3,340 m and was completely resurfaced. At the eastern end of the airfield, a 500 m bridge carries the new runway and the parallel taxiway over the River Iskar. Sofia thus became capable of handling 275-tonne wide-body aircraft such as Boeing-747. The air navigation equipment of the new runway meets ICAO Category IIIB standards for low-visibility landings and takeoffs.

The airport's seven taxiways vary in width from 14 to 22 m; 1,500 m of new asphalt taxiways were built as part of the new runway system, and the existing 2,300 m of taxiways were upgraded and lengthened by 1,300 m. The taxiways can handle 20 aircraft movements per hour with high-level safety.

With new concrete parking aprons of 50,000 sq, the total parking space reached 308,000 sq m, enough for 40 aircraft at a time.

Cargo

The airport's two cargo terminals are capable of processing 20,000 tonnes of shipments a year. The cargo facilities include a 14,600 sq m warehouse, a bonded warehouse, and a transit zone where mechanical handling, refrigerated storage and X-ray equipment are available.

The terminals offer fresh meat inspection, phytosanitary and customs inspection, security for valuables, handling dangerous and radioactive goods, live animals, very large/heavy cargo, and an express courier centre.
The cargo handled by the airport increased from 10,180 tonnes in 1998 to 15,241 t in 2006, 18,294 t in 2008, 21,157 t in 2016, and 23,042 t in 2020.

Management

A Council of Ministers decision established Sofia Airport EAD as a wholly state-owned single-shareholder joint-stock company in 1992. The company operated the facility until April 2021, when SOF Connect (a special purpose vehicle in which independent investment firm Meridiam owns 99% of the capital) took over the management of the airport under a 35-year concession. The new licensed operator committed to invest EUR 624 million in development of the aviation hub over the concession period. This is the largest concession in Bulgaria's transport sector and the first major public-private partnership project in this country over the last decade.
The airport has over 2,300 employees staffing 12 departments which take care of safety, environmental management, human resources, and administration and social services.

Environment-Conscious

The airport is located in a populated area, and the westward approach for landing and takeoff exposes a large part of the city to heavy noise pollution. Construction of a noise protection screen at the aircraft engine testing platform was completed in April 2009. In another effort to reduce the noise impact on residents of surrounding communities, aircraft de-icing was centralized at two platforms. In line with international and national ambient noise standards, the airport restricts night-time flights over the city. A property insulation programme, implemented between 2004 and 2012, addressed legacy noise impacts on 260 residential properties.

The airport joined Europe's Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme in 2016 and aims to reduce its own greenhouse emissions by 28% by 2026 and to achieve carbon neutrality for all operations under its control by 2036.
Birdstrike risk to aircraft is managed through the use of loudspeakers and a 'bird patrol van' to scare off birds on the runway. A tunnel allows mammals to move unharmed along the bridge over the Iskar River.

A unique park area was landscaped north-east of Terminal 2 in 2009 by reconstructing an old stone pit and preserving the natural characteristics of the area including the river. The 36.5 ha park has a network of alleys, an amphitheatre and a natural lake and provides an alternative venue for cultural events.