Bulgaria launches tender to operate Sofia airport
Bulgaria is launching a tender to operate Sofia airport for 35 years, a deal expected to bring in some 1.2 billion levs ($695 million) to state coffers, Transport Minister Ivailo Moskovski said on Tuesday.
Operators of airports in Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich, Lyon, Dublin and London Heathrow, as well as companies from Qatar, Turkey and China, have expressed initial interest in the tender for the Balkan country’s main airport, he said.
“There will be a large advance payment at the beginning of the concession,” Moskovski told reporters after the government’s decision to launch the tender. “The net effect for the state for the whole period is expected to be around 1.2 billion levs.”
The government hopes to grant a concession to operate the airport, used by more than four million passengers in 2015, by the end of the year and will use the proceeds to modernise debt-ridden state railway operator BDZ.
The airport has until now been operated by the state.
The tender’s initial bidding price is expected to start at about 570 million levs. The winner will also have to make smaller annual payments throughout the term of the concession, Moskovski has said.
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