The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will consult the procedure for the selection of a concessionaire. The two institutions will conduct the pre-tender analysis in the next two months. The procedure is expected to be initiated upon the completion of the analysis, at the beginning of 2018.
It is the second attempt to grant a concession for servicing Sofia Airport. The first was cancelled in April this year, even after the deadline was extended four times due to low interest. The lack of an external consultant was identified as a significant drawback. Four airport operators were formally interested in the cancelled procedure earlier this year – TAV, Fraport, Limak and Flughafen Zurich.
Sofia Airport has marked a significant growth this year with 3.7 million passengers served by the end of July – a million more YoY. The airport expects around 7 million passengers by the end of 2017.
