A tender for the concession of the Shturkelovo Airport in Rousse was launched on December 21, after publication in the State Gazette.

The offers would be opened on April 14 2008, mediapool.bg said. The deadline for application documents purchase was March 21 2008.

Applicants should have managed civil airports for at least two years over the past five years and to have served at least 500 000 people and 10 000 tons of cargo annually. They should also have earned at least 15 million euro per year for the past three years from direct activity and exploitation.

Another condition for the applicants was to have invested more than 50 million euro in the development of civil airports over the past five years.

Rousse airport concession was more risky than the concession of the two coastal airports of Varna and Bourgas, because the latter two were operating successfully before their concession, mediapool.bg said.

Transport and Communications Minister Petar Moutafchiev will lead the commission for the evaluation of the airport concession offers. His deputy Youdjel Atilla, Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) Zahari Aleksiev and head of CAA Airports directorate Lyudmil Manasiev are also part of the commission.
 
Experts expected at least three candidates to bid for the concession. The procedure will last at least half a year.

The companies of Shturkelovo Airport and the airport in Gorna Oryahovitsa were the only companies of small regional airports for domestic flights, which had not been liquidated, although the airports have not served passenger or cargo flights for years, mediapool.bg said.

If the Rousse airport concession was successful, it could become a model for the revival of other regional airports, whose technical infrastructure was still intact.