The government selected German consortium Fraport/BM Star as the concessionaire of the Bourgas and Varna airports.

The Cabinet chose Fraport/BG Star after the Supreme Administrative Court overruled the selection of Copenhagen Airports, medipool.bg said. An inspection revealed that Copenhagen Airport failed to meet one of the requirements for previous experience in operating airports in more than two different countries.

In May Fraport/BM Star increased its offer from 16.8 to 19.2 per cent of the money gathered from taxes or airport services, depending on which figure was higher, mediapool.bg reported.

The concession deal is valid for 35 years. Fraport/BM Star plans to invest 403 million euro in modernising the terminals. Bourgas airport will receive 215 million euro and Varna airport will get the remaining 188 million euro.

By law the concessionaire is obliged to pay three million euro once the contract comes into force, which is expected in October. The deal should be finalised within a month, and the concession deal will come into force less than two months afterwards.

According to schedules the government should end the renovation work on the partial enlargement of the two terminals as they have been experiencing difficulties in operating the large number of flights.