Balkan Hemus Group is the frontrunner in the privatisation of Bulgaria Air, the countrys national flag carrier, the Privatisation Agency (PA) announced on October 20.
Balkan Hemus Groups offer included a share price totalling 6.8 million euro. The investments proposed for the five year period stand at 82.1 million euro, 65.85 million euro of which will be spent in the first two years.
The groups proposal promised 621 jobs in the first year, 956 jobs in the next year, 978 jobs in the third year, 1062 jobs in the fourth year and 1062 jobs in the fifth year and after. The company offered to open 36 new destinations for flights.
Italys Air One Bulgarias bid came in second. The company's offer included a price for the shares of 5.3 million euro, investments of 11.6 million euro for a five-year period, of which 8.1 million euro would be invested in the first two years.
Air One Bulgaria offered to open 522 jobs in the first year, 528 in the second, 550 in the third year, 588 in the fourth year and 629 in the fifth year. The Italian company offered to open 12 new destinations as well.
The PA now has to submit to the Cabinet a proposal for the ranking of the two candidates. A total of 30 159 shares, representing nearly 99.99 per cent of the capital of Bulgaria Air, is at stake.
Under the Privatisation and Post-Privatisation Control Act, the Cabinet has to determine who wins the tender while establishing a deadline for concluding the contract. If Air One Bulgaria does not protest the PA's decision, the deal could be exercised within a month.
Balkan Hemus Group owns local air carrier Hemus Air. Speculations in local Bulgarian-language media suggested that, once purchased, Bulgaria Air will merge with Hemus Air in a years time.
Sofia International Airport (SIA) reported an 18 per cent increase in passengers for the first nine months of 2006, compared to the same period last year. The number of flights rose by 24 per cent. The airport had serviced 23 083 scheduled and charter flights through September, 22 051 of which were international flights. The number of passengers totalled 1.68 million for the period.
Nine-month cargo traffic rose three per cent year-on-year to 7.5 million tonnes. Airport authorities told SeeNews news agency that the growth in the nine-month traffic was mainly due to the new routes and the increased frequency of international flights of Bulgarias leading carriers, Bulgaria Air and Hemus Air. British Airways, Lufthansa and Alitalia also increased the frequency of their flights.
SIA is expected to open its new terminal, with a capacity of 2.5 million passengers, in a year. That would meet EU requirements for servicing passengers and implementing border controls. For 2005, SIA handled 1.87 million passengers.
