Airport re-construction

Novinite.com

Noise in Capital to Be Reduced with New Sofia Airport Runway


The reconstruction of the Sofia Airport will lead to a significant improvement in the acoustic environment for the Sofia population, experts concluded. The entire project for the construction of a new airport in Sofia - passengers' terminal and runway systems - has to be finished in 2005. The modernization of the airport begins end-September or in the beginning of October under the plan. The new terminal will be at four levels. It will be constructed five hundred meters away from the present airport.

Preparations for Sofia Airport Modernization Underway

(October 2002)

The project for modernization and expansion of Sofia Airport begins with fortification of the bed of the river Iskur. Under the project, a new 3.6 km runway and a new passenger terminal are to be built by 2005. The airport's existing 2,800 m runway will be extended eastwards by 540 m to reach 3,340 m, through a bridge across the river Iskur. A new runway will be constructed 210 m parallel to the existing one, with overall length of 3,600 m and width of 45 m. Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, the EU ISPA Programme and Bulgaria's national budget provided USD 40 M for the modernization. Construction work on the new terminal is expected to start before the end of this year. It will be built 500 m to the east of the existing airport will have a capacity of 2.5 million passengers/year (2,000 passengers/hour at peak hours), a floor area of 26,000 sq m on four levels, 40 check-in desks, 8 bridges, new aprons covering 38,000 sq m, and indoor and outdoor parking space of approximately 18,000 sq m for 820 cars.
The expansion of Sofia Airport will open 2,000 jobs. The first stage that has already started consists of fortification of the bed of river Iskur. The entire projects is planned to be completed in 2005. Transport Minister Plamen Petrov commented that the project had been delayed for seven years but now all procedures were
underway. He announced that the procedure regarding the loan of the European Investment Bank had started. Stoil Pashkunov, executive director of the airport, said that the loan was going to be returned with revenues from airport taxes. That is why the taxes of Sofia airport are higher than those of Varna and Burgas ones.

BOOK HOTEL IN SOFIA