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Plovdiv Airport

Coordinates: 42°04′04″N 024°51′53″E / 42.06778°N 24.86472°E / 42.06778; 24.86472
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Plovdiv Airport

Летище Пловдив
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorPlovdiv Airport JSC
ServesPlovdiv
LocationKrumovo, Bulgaria
Opened1928 (1928)
Elevation AMSL182 m / 597 ft
Coordinates42°04′04″N 024°51′53″E / 42.06778°N 24.86472°E / 42.06778; 24.86472
Websitewww.plovdivairport.com
Map
PDV is located in Bulgaria
PDV
PDV
Location of airport in Bulgaria
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 2,500 8,202 Concrete
Statistics (2023)
Passengers183,988
Passenger change 22-23Decrease17.0%
Aircraft movements3,408
Movements change 22-23Decrease28.4%
Cargo (t)26
Cargo change 22-23Increase62.5%
Source: Bulgarian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

Plovdiv Airport (Bulgarian: Летище Пловдив, romanized: Letishte Plovdiv) (IATA: PDV, ICAO: LBPD) is an airport that serves the second largest city in Bulgaria, Plovdiv, and is the country's 4th busiest airport behind Sofia Airport, Burgas Airport and Varna Airport. It is sometimes referred to as Plovdiv Krumovo Airport, after a small village located 6 km south-east away from the city on the main Plovdiv-Asenovgrad second class road.

Plovdiv Airport serves the nearby ski resorts of Bansko, Pamporovo and Borovets, and therefore serves mainly charter flights, during the winter season from the end of December until March. The main traffic at present is charter flights to and from the United Kingdom and Germany. The airport also plays a vital role in case of emergencies and is sometimes used as an alternate for Sofia Airport, which is almost 150 km away or 1.5-hour drive on the Trakiya motorway.

History

[edit]

The beginning of civil aviation at Plovdiv came with the first test flight between Sofia-Plovdiv-Yambol and Burgas early in 1928. In 1947, interim[clarification needed] civilian flights between Sofia and Plovdiv were carried out.

On 2 October 1947, the regional newspaper Fatherland Voice reported that over a period of 45 days 1,500 passengers were carried, noting that the flights were always on time. In May 1948, regular service began between Sofia-Plovdiv-Bourgas and Varna. The same period also saw the former Fifth Air Regiment getting established at the airport, and a ticket office was put into use. The first flight was carried out by the airline Balkan Bulgarian Airlines. During the Fair Plovdiv, the airport served an average of 25 flights per day.[citation needed]

On 2 May 1962, airport operations moved to the Graf Ignatievo Airbase north of the city. At Plovdiv major restructuring of the airport facilities was carried out. One year later the regional newspaper "Fatherland Voice" published an article with the heading: "He has TRACK OF AIRPORT Plovdiv". In the same article the public was informed of the expansion of charter flights by Balkan Bulgarian Airlines to such destinations as Berlin, Moscow, Prague, and Vienna; the flights were carried out with aircraft types IL-18, TU-104 and TU-114.

On 13 September 1965, a new terminal building was opened, and next year, an enlarged tarmac was put into use in time for winter season charter traffic.

During these first years at the new location on the north-west perimeter of the airport, the airport serves scheduled domestic passenger flights to Bourgas, Varna, Targovishte, Rousse, Sofia and Gorna Oryahovitsa, with mainly IL-14 aircraft.

In the 1970s, the airport underwent considerable improvement and cargo airline Aeroflot Cargo began regular operation with IL-18, AN-12 and TU-154. In 1972 more than 5,000 tons of air cargo went through the airport. On 18 April 1978, an IL-76 landed at the airport, with a gross cargo payload capacity of 40 metric tons.

Domestic scheduled flights were terminated in 1980, but winter charter flights continue to increase which again leads to a relocation of ground facilities as technical buildings, power supply facilities, air traffic control tower and administrative facilities.

On 18 December 1982, the first aircraft TU-134 arrived, a charter flight from Amsterdam, the beginning of a new era for Plovdiv Airport. It is followed by the arrival on 3 November 2010 by a Boeing 737-800 arriving from London Stansted Airport, opening a year-round international passenger service to and from Plovdiv Airport.[2]

On 25 December 2009, the first service to a scheduled destination, Moscow, started.[3] This was the first scheduled flight since 1981. The airport handled 103,300 passengers in 2015.

Reconstruction

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The old passenger terminal
The new passenger terminal

Although the airport is operated by the state-owned Letishte Plovdiv EAD and the runway and the apron are also state-owned, the terminal is partly private. That made the renovation of the terminal very difficult. Today the terminal is 58.08% owned by Alfa Finance Holding (former owner of these shares was the Swiss firm TADO) and the rest of the shares belong to the state-owned "Mezhdunarodno letishte Plovdiv" EAD. The problems in agreement with the private owners of the terminal brought the decision from the state to build new terminal and to extend the apron. The renovation process started at the beginning of 2009; the apron extension for 6 additional aircraft stands was made by Glavbolgarstroy and the new terminal building by a local firm. The total cost are estimated to be EUR 20 million.

The new passenger terminal building was officially opened on 1 July 2009.[4] With an area of 6,750 m2 (72,700 sq ft), it has 10 check-in desks and 3 gates, and is designed to handle up to 1,000 passengers per hour at peak times.[5][unreliable source?]

According to British consultants from Airport Strategy & Marketing, which were hired to investigate possibilities for developing new routes, there is big interest from low-cost carriers like Ryanair and Wizz Air. Despite that, Ryanair has ceased the flights on 2 routes (Milan and Frankfurt) in 2015 after two years of stable operation.

Concession

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The government have started the first concession procedure back in 2011, but there were no candidates for it. The second attempt for the concession was made in the spring of 2016 when the government have opened a tender for a 35 years concession of the airport, but the tender was shortly cancelled for non-compliance with European rules. In December 2016 the government opened the 3-rd tender for the concession.[6] In the new procedure 3 companies have made the bid for the airport - Silk Road Plovdiv Airport, Consortium Plovdiv Airport and a tie-up between Hainan and Plovdiv Airport Invest.[7] On 28 March 2018, Bulgarian Government awarded the consortium of HNA Group and Plovdiv Airport Invest a 35-year-long concession on Plovdiv airport in return for investments reaching €79 million, including a new cargo and passenger terminal.[8] On 19 of July the consortium of HNA Group and Plovdiv Airport Invest have declared that it won't sign the concession contract which opens the road for the classified on the second place to take the concession.[9]

Other facilities

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Krumovo Air Base

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The 24th Helicopter Air Base of the Bulgarian Air Force, with Eurocopter AS 532, Mil Mi-24, Mil Mi-17 and Bell 206 units is located on the west side of the airport.

Aviation Museum Plovdiv

[edit]

Next to the airbase is the only functional aviation museum in Bulgaria. Opened in 1991, the museum has a rich collection of modern, cold war airplanes and such from the Third Bulgarian Kingdom. Due to the low state budget, the collection is preserved mostly by donations. The museum is accessible by car on the way to the airport and is about 100m from Mavrudovo railway station. Working hours for visitors are 9:00–16:00.

Airlines and destinations

[edit]

The following airlines operate regular scheduled, charter, and seasonal charter flights at Plovdiv Airport:[10]

AirlinesDestinations
Arkia Seasonal: Tel Aviv
BH Air Seasonal charter: Antalya[11]
Jet2.com Seasonal charter: Belfast–International[12][13]
Ryanair London–Stansted
Seasonal: Birmingham,[14] Manchester[15]
Wizz Air[16] London–Luton

Statistics

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Traffic

[edit]
Annual passenger traffic at PDV airport. See Wikidata query.
Traffic at Plovdiv Airport
Year Passengers Change Cargo (tonnes) Change Aircraft movements Change
1998 52,702 Steady 1,084 Steady 1,463 Steady
1999 38,811 Decrease32.7% 402 Decrease62.9% 612 Decrease58.2%
2000 37,680 Decrease2.9% 682 Increase49.8% 1,518 Increase148.0%
2001 27,627 Decrease26.6% 1,135 Increase66.4% 1,140 Decrease24.9%
2002 26,639 Decrease3.6% 818 Decrease27.9% 975 Decrease14.5%
2003 27,379 Increase2.8% 1,256 Decrease99.8% 924 Decrease5.2%
2004 37,760 Increase37.9% 2,138 Increase70.2% 1,277 Increase38.2%
2005 66,168 Increase75.2% 2,276 Increase6.4% 1,598 Increase25.1%
2006 93,245 Increase40.9% 2,126 Decrease6.6% 2,011 Increase25.8%
2007 104,130 Increase11.7% 1,867 Decrease12.1% 1,990 Decrease1.0%
2008 61,276 Decrease41.1% 666 Decrease64.3% 1,702 Decrease14.5%
2009 24,919 Increase3.0% 472 Decrease29.1% 6,138 Increase260.6%
2010 26,547 Increase6.5% 369 Decrease21.8% 4,983 Decrease18.8%
2011 76,835 Increase5.4% 380 Increase2.9% 5,805 Increase0.2%
2012 88,704 Increase189.4% 255 Decrease33.0% 4,193 Decrease27.8%[17]
2013 92,097 Increase3.8% 182 Decrease28.6% 3,657 Decrease12.8%
2014 103,292 Increase12.1% 554 Increase204.4% 2,643 Decrease27.7%
2015 103,300 Increase0.1% 821 Increase48.2% 3,243 Increase22.7%
2016 77,097 Decrease25.4% 2,755 Increase235.6% 2,474 Decrease23.7%
2017 90,136 Increase16.9% 628 Decrease77.2% 2,444 Decrease1.2%
2018 133,397 Increase48.0% 521 Decrease17.0% 3,923 Increase60.5%
2019 77,309 Decrease42.0% 573 Increase10.0% 3,786 Decrease3.5%
2020 42,120 Decrease45.5% 459 Decrease19.9% 3,621 Decrease4.3%
2021 38,166 Decrease9.4% 112 Decrease75.6% 3,448 Decrease4.8%
2022 221,721 Increase480.9% 16 Decrease85.7% 4,757 Increase47.9%
2023 183,988 Decrease 17.0% 26 Increase62.5% 3,408 Decrease28.4%
Source: Directorate General "Civil Aviation Administration"[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "EAD Basic". Ead.eurocontrol.int. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  2. ^ "Летище Пловдив – Официален Уеб Сайт". Plovdivairport.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Първата целогодишна линия откриват на летище Пловдив по Коледа". DarikNews.bg. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  4. ^ "Откриха нов терминал на летище Пловдив". Plovdiv.dir.bg. July 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  5. ^ Plovdiv Airport at airport-technology.com
  6. ^ "Откриха трета процедура за концесия на Летище Пловдив".
  7. ^ "Bulgaria's Plovdiv Airport new concession tender draws three bids". SeeNews.
  8. ^ https://www.nasdaq.com/article/chinas-hna-airport-group-to-operate-bulgarias-plovdiv-airport-20180328-00554 [bare URL]
  9. ^ "Спечелилият концесията за летище Пловдив се отказва".
  10. ^ "Plovdiv Airport". Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  11. ^ "Чартър от Пловдив до Анталия с авиокомпания Balkan Holidays (BH Air)".
  12. ^ "Bulgaria Ski from Belfast". travel-solutions.co.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  13. ^ "Кацна първият чартърен полет за зимния сезон на летище Пловдив". Bgtourism.bg (in Bulgarian). 24 December 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Нова авиолиния открива Летище Пловдив". 7 March 2024.
  15. ^ "Manchester exceeds 2019 traffic in October and is the UK's third-busiest airport; Ryanair top airline this year". 30 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Втора нискотарифна авиокомпания стартира редовни полети от летище Пловдив". 19 August 2021.
  17. ^ "Летище Пловдив тръгва към концесия" (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Статистическа информация за международните летища в Република България" (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 8 December 2023.
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Media related to Plovdiv Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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