Bulgaria will open a tender to award a concession for the Sofia Airport in six months.

The Transport Ministry announced tender for selection of companies to establish legal, financial and environmental analysis for the concession of the Sofia airport plus the Airport Balchik that was bundled with it in the middle of 2011. The research will cost BGN109,000 (separated in lots of BGN54,000, BGN40,000 and BGN 15,000 respectively), and a single company can apply for only one of them. Bids will be opened in the last week of March and the winners will have five months to perform the task. This means that autumn 2012 may see the actual concession process of Sofia Airport taking place.

The scope of the concession contract may be expanded to include the coastal airport of Balchik, as well, but this is yet to be decided taking into account investor interest. According to industry experts the most serious candidate for Sofia airport will be the current owner of the airports in Varna and Bourgas - a consortium between the German company Fraport and the Varna-based holding Chimimport.

In addition to the experience already gained by these concessions one should not ignore the fact that Chimimport is the owner of the main comany operating flights through Sofia airport - Bulgaria Air. Moreover, Chimimport holds a stake in the aircraft servicing company Lufthansa Technik - also located at the capital's airport. Among the potential candidates most likely are the Danish company Copenhagen Airports as well as the French Vince Group who participated in the competition for the airports in Varna and Burgas.