Sofia Airport Totally Explained

Everything about Sofia Airport totally explained

Sofia Airport (Letishte Sofiya), also known as Vrazhdebna (Враждебна) (after the village located to the north) is the main airport in Sofia, Bulgaria. The airport is a hub for Bulgaria Air (successor of the bankrupt Balkan Airlines) and Hemus Air. It handled 2.2 million passengers in 2006, and 2.7 million passengers in 2007.
Initially built in the 1930s on the outskirts of the then relatively small capital city, Sofia Airport was facing difficulties with today's traffic. After years of studying different possibilities, some as far as 70 km away from Sofia, it was agreed to expand the existing airport. The airport's second terminal was officially opened on 27 December 2006.

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 are crossing the river Iskar on a bridge. 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 euro. The financing 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), European Union's 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 was split in two lots: construction of the new terminal with its surrounding infrastructure, and construction of the new runway. First lot was allocated to the German branch of Austrian company Strabag, while second lot was won by consortium of Kuwaiti company Mohamed Abdulmohsin al-Kharafi & Sons and UAE-based Admak General Contracting Company.

Delays of the terminal construction

The initial deadline of for the new terminal was 15 December 2004 with a total budget of 112.2 million euro. Right after the beginning Strabag contested the geological surveys made by the Dutch engineering consutancy company NACO B.V., and demanded additional funding for unexpected additional works. The delay was 10 months, and the construction was resumed after Bulgarian government agreed to amend the contract increasing it with 4.8 million euro. The deadline was extended until 31 August 2005.
In 2004 Strabag demanded additional 6 million euro due to rise in steel prices . The Ministry of Transportation rejected the claim backed by NACO's report. In May 2005 the construction company threatened to take the case to an international arbitration body.
In August it was revealed that Strabag wasn't able to meet the changed deadline, and the further delay was estimated to be 6-8 weeks . Later in November the company asked for 8 months extension of the slippery deadline.

Transport links

Bus

There are 2 bus services that connect both Terminals 1 & 2 to the city centre, more specifically Sofia University (External Link

) Travel time is about 20 minutes, but it may take much longer depending on traffic conditions.
   From/to Terminal 1: Bus line no. 84
   From/to Terminal 2: Bus line no. 284
   Ticket prices for 1 trip as of April 2008: BGN 0.70 or €0.35, which could be bought from kiosk or newsagent.

Shuttle bus

A small shuttle bus line no. 30 service serves both terminals and connects to city centre and Sofia's biggest district Lyulin. Ticket price as of April 2008: BGN 1.50 or €0.75

Taxi

Taxis are available at the Arrivals of Terminals 1 & 2.The taxi fare to downtown is about €5 to €8 depending on traffic conditions. Average prices per kilometre start at €0.35 as of April 2008. Sofia International Airport is well connected to both Trakiya motorway & Hemus motorway.

Terminal 1

Aviaexpress (Skopje)
easyJet (London-Gatwick)
Flybaboo (Geneva [starts16 June, 2008])
Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn)
MyAir (Bologna, Milan-Bergamo, Venice)
SkyEurope (Prague, Vienna)
Wizz Air (Barcelona [starts26 July], Brussels-Charleroi [starts24 July], Dortmund, London-Luton, Milano-Bergamo [starts25 July], Rome-Fiumicino, Valencia [starts12 June], Varna [starts25 July]

Terminal 2

The new 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 7 gates, 38 check-in desks and covers an area of 50,000 sq m and has a car park for 820 vehicles.
   The new terminal is located to the east of Terminal 1 and is significantly bigger than the old one that will continue to serve the low-cost airlines.
   The new passenger terminal building is designed with a capacity of 2,000 peak hour passenger flow and up to 2.6 million passengers per year together with 26,000 tonne of cargo. For the first time in Bulgaria an airport will serve passengers with airport gates instead of shuttle busses.
   The new Sofia Airport Centre, a premiere corporate office, hospitality and logistics centre in Bulgaria is being constructed in the vicinity.
   The infrastructure surrounding the building is expected to be completed in 2007. It includes a new motorway connecting the terminal with the existing airport road, landscape works 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. (External Link

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Aerosvit Airlines (Kiev-Boryspil)

Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)

Aegean Airlines (Athens)

Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo)

Air Malta (Malta)

Alitalia (Rome-Fiumicino)

Alitalia operated by Alitalia Express (Milan-Malpensa)

Austrian Airlines (Vienna)

Austrian Arrows operated by Tyrolean Airways (Vienna)

British Airways (London-Heathrow)

Bulgaria Air (Alicante, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Beirut, Berlin-Tegel, Bourgas, Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Dubai, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Larnaca, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Málaga, Manchester, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, Skopje, Tel Aviv, Tirana, Tripoli, Valencia, Varna, Vienna, Zürich)

Cyprus Airways (Larnaca)

Czech Airlines (Prague)

El Al (Tel Aviv)

LOT Polish Airlines (Warsaw)

Lufthansa (Frankfurt, Munich)

Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings (Düsseldorf)

Malév Hungarian Airlines (Budapest)

Olympic Airlines (Athens)

Rossiya (St. Petersburg) seasonal

Swiss International Air Lines (Zürich)

TAROM (Bucharest-Otopeni)

Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)

Charter airlines

AtlasJet (Antalya, Dalaman)

BH Air (Antalya, Dubai, London Gatwick, Sharm El Sheikh)

First Choice (Birmingham, Bristol)

Monarch Airlines (London-Luton, Birmingham, Manchester)

Mytravel (Birmingham)

Thomas Cook (London-Gatwick, Manchester)

Thomsonfly (London-Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester)

S7 Airlines (Moscow)

Cargo Airlines

DHL Aviation (Leipzig/Halle Airport)

TNT Airways (Liège)

Farnair

Traffic figures

'Traffic at Sofia Airport>

Year	Passengers	Cargo (tonnes)
2000	1,127,400	11,004
2001	1,107,682	10,380
2002	1,214,137	12,480
2003	1,356,569	13,754
2004	1,614,139	14,468
2005	1,874,368	14,724
2006	2,209,348	15,244
2007	2,746,178	17,388

Further Information

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