Sofia Airport

Sofia Airport Reconstruction, Development and Extension Project was initiated in 1995/1996 with the production of a Master Plan by the Bulgarian design company "Transproekt".




The main elements of the Master Plan are the construction of a new parallel runway and a new passenger terminal building. In 1996 a preliminary environmental impact assessment was made by a team of independent experts, the results of which were later discussed at a public meeting. The Dutch consultancy company NACO revised the Master Plan in consideration of its compatibility with the international standards and civil aviation recommendations. In addition, a Land Use Plan was also developed and approved by a joint order of the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works and the Minister of Transport, dated March 31st 1999.

From March to June 1999 a Building and Regulating Plan of the entire territory of Sofia Airport was developed in consistence with the approved Master Plan.

In December 1999 an order was issued by the Chief Architect of Sofia city which put into effect the Building and Regulating Plan.

In April 2000, the Preliminary Design for the New Passenger Terminal Building and Runway System, compliant with the approved version of the Master Plan, was approved by the Sofia City Architectural and Planning Committee

On November 26th and 27th 2001 the Detailed Designs, respectively, for Lot B2: New Runway System and Related Works, and Lot B1: New Passenger Terminal Building and Related Infrastructure were sanctioned at joint sessions of the National Council of Experts on Territorial Planning and Regional Policy with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and the Council of Experts with the Ministry of Transport and Communications. This sanction finalised the whole procedure of project coordination and approval under the Bulgarian law.






In accordance with the agreement with the financing institutions, the project was divided into two main packages:

Lot B1 – New Passenger Terminal Building and Related Infrastructure

Lot B2 – New Runway System and Related Works

To define the size of the future airport facilities – new runway and terminal building –the parameters below were used as starting points:

2.6 million passengers per annum
2000 passengers per peak hour
20 aircraft movements per peak hour
26 000 tonnes cargo per annum.
The Detailed Design meets the following basic requirements:

International passenger handling standards contained the ICAO recommendations as defined in document 9184-AN/902; security rules defined in Annex 17 and ICAO document 8973-4, the IATA recommendations, the Manual for Civil Aviation Security and Protection against Acts of Illegal Interference, Annex 9;
High standard of passenger handling;
It also guarantees execution of construction works without causing obstruction to the existing airport operation;
Landing of wide-bodied aircraft, incl. Boeing 747;
In the process of project development, all obligations imposed on airports by the European Union law in the field of border control, customs and security were observed.
The new passenger terminal building is a modern complex providing for easy and comfortable handling of passengers.

The new passenger terminal building has three main elements:

Terminal building;
Finger;
Parking garage.
The central part of the terminal building accommodates the main areas for passenger and baggage check-in, and all necessary technical and administrative premises. All passenger handling areas are furnished with modern equipment to service incapacitated passengers as well.



The finger protrudes out of the terminal building to a total length of approximately 210 m. All six gates leading to the air bridges are organised in a similar way: holding area, security control, sterile area.

The parking garage is situated completely out of the terminal building contour. Its total capacity reaches 820 parking spaces divided into 4 levels. Vertical transportation of passengers and guests from each level to level 0 of the terminal building is ensured by lifts and staircases. The project allows for modular expansion of the terminal building to the east and west.

Lot B2

New runway (3 600 m x 45 m plus safety shoulders), located parallel to the existing runway;
Extension of the existing runway and transformation into a parallel taxiway;
New connecting and rapid taxiways on a total area of approximately 60 000 m2
Iskar river bridging and bank reinforcements;
Airfield ground lighting, modern navigational aids (ICAO Cat. III) and communications;
Fire fighting and rescue substation, incl. equipment;
Airfield ground lighting building, incl. equipment;
De-icing platforms, service roads, drainage system;
The project contains a solution as to shifting the irrigation system affected by the new airport facilities. The ferro-concrete bridge structure is perpendicular to the new runway and the parallel taxiway.

Construction works will be performed with a minimum obstruction to the every day operation of the airport. It means that:

the runway will always be open for all scheduled flights;
the aircraft approach to and from the runway must always be guaranteed.
Following the preliminary environmental impact assessment in 1996, a final assessment was made in 2000 and its results were discussed at a public meeting. Both the preliminary and the final environmental impact assessment reports are freely accessible for the public. The results of the 1996 and 2000 assessments show that the relocation of the new runway starting line to the east will considerably reduce the number of people affected by excessive noise caused by operating aircraft at Sofia Airport.

There is a provision in the project for the installation of an aviation noise and flight route monitoring system. The system is currently at its design and specification stage. Once completed, a tender procedure will be held for its delivery and installation.

At the same time, a project is being developed for anti-noise protection on the territory under regime of hygiene protection around Sofia Airport, which will include a set of noise reduction measures. All measures provided for in this project will be implemented gradually by stages before setting the new runway into operation.

Project Financing:

In September 1997 a Finance Contract was signed between the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Investment Bank for financing the construction of a new passenger terminal building and related infrastructure. The loan, which amounts to 60 million Euro, was ratified by a law adopted by the National Assembly on November 5th 1997.

For the construction of the new runway system, on June 22nd 1998 a Loan Agreement was signed between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to the amount of 12.3 million Kuwaiti dinars, or approximately 41.5 million Euro, and was ratified by a law adopted by the National Assembly on October 28th 1998.

In pursuance of the agreements with the financing institutions, and in consideration of the successful project implementation and reasonable management of all relevant activities, Sofia Airport needed the assistance of consultants of internationally proven record. 7.6 million Euro were, therefore, allocated in April 1998 under the national PHARE programme for technical assistance.

Based on the new Business Plan, application documents were prepared for obtaining a grant from the pre-accession fund of the European Union – ISPA, to finance the construction of the new passenger terminal building. In August 2000, the European Committee made a decision on a grant of 50 million Euro, which was officially afforded in December the same year with the signing of a Financing Memorandum by the Bulgarian Government. Thus, the Sofia Airport project is one of the two projects in Bulgaria enjoying the privilege of an ISPA grant.

When the Preliminary Design and the Cost Estimates were prepared by the Consultant NACO B.V, in a resolution of December 2000, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria, determined the Bulgarian financial contribution, by which the project was completely guaranteed with financial resources.

In a procedure strictly abiding by the PHARE rules, the Dutch consulting company was selected to perform the functions of an Engineer under FIDIC (Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction – Fourth Edition 1987).

From March until April 2001 a procedure of prequalification was held under the rules of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to select a main contractor of the runway system. The shortlist included 12 companies.

Supervision over construction of the runway was delegated to the winner in an international tender, the consortium of COWI (Denmark) - KEO (Kuwait) – STROL 1000 (Bulgaria).

After an international tender, on December 16th 2002 , the Ministry of Transport and Communications hosted the formal ceremony of signing the Contract for Construction of a New Terminal and Related Infrastructure at Sofia Airport by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Strabag International GmbH and Sofia Airport EAD. The event was also attended by the Minister of Transport and Communications and the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, the ambassador of the European Commission to Bulgaria, the ambassadors of Germany and Austria, other representatives of those institutions and official guests.

The address of the contractor is:

STRABAG INTERNATIONAL GmbH Direction 85

Modecenterstr. 16A-1030 Wien, Austria

Tel.: + 43 1 79513 256

Fax.: + 43 1 79513 250

With the signing of this contract the project proceeds further into the execution stage. The construction time as per the contract was 22 months, subsequently extended by 8,5 months on the grounds of Contract Variation Order No 1. The construction deadline now is 31 August 2005.


The contractor for Lot B2 – New Runway System and Related Works, was selected in an international tender in June 2002. The tender submission deadline was 18th June 2002, 14.00 hrs local time, and within that period six proposals were submitted:

After an international tender, pre-contract negotiations were successfully concluded and the Contract Agreement with the winner Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi and Sons – Admak General Contracting Company.was signed at an official ceremony in the Ministry of Transport and Communications on 14 March 2003.