Bulgaria re-opens concession tender for Plovdiv Airport
Bulgaria’s outgoing Cabinet said on December 28 that it decided to re-open the tender for a 35-year concession on the Plovdiv Airport, the government media office said in a statement.
The previous offer, extended in March, drew no bidders. The new tender follows the EU rules on concessions, which went into effect in April, and “offers the opportunity to attract a larger circle of potential investors,” the Cabinet said in a statement.
At the time of the original offer, Transport Minister Ivailo Moskovski said that several prospective investors had shown interest in the concession, including the operator of the nearby Pamporovo winter resort.
Bulgaria currently has two major airports under concession, in the Black Sea cities of Varna and Bourgas, which are managed by Germany’s Fraport. Both airports have seen a steady increase in the number of passengers over the past decade, as they are used by charter flights ferrying tourists on their way to Black Sea resorts.
The bigger prize for potential investors would be the Sofia Airport, the country’s largest airport by far, with a concession tender currently underway. The initial deadline for bids was September, but it has been extended three times already and the current deadline is end-January.
