Swissport Bulgaria announced that it has received licences from the line authorities in Bulgaria to act as second operator at Sofia Airport as of June 18 this year. Swissport Bulgaria is registered as a ground handling subsidiary of Swissport International to service Sofia Airport . Swissport International provides ground services for over 70mn passengers and 3.2mn tonnes of cargo a year on behalf of some 650 client companies. It is owned by the Spain-based Ferrovial, one of the leading European infrastructure and service corporations. Local officials however comment that the contract with Swissport is not finalised and the starting date is not confirmed yet. The contract will be signed in accordance with EU guidelines requiring the entry of a second operator at airports servicing more than 2mn passengers a year. The threshold was over passed last year when the passenger traffic at Sofia Airport reached 2.2mn. Local authorities have not commented the deal by now and tender proceedings have not been publicised.