Ministry of Transport, Information technology and Communications of Bulgaria has opened the bids in Sofia Airport concession tender. Airports De Paris Consortium S. A. together with TAV Havalimanlari Holding A.S have offered the highest annual concession fee.

The annual fee offered by the consortium is EUR 32.4 million. The rest of the four bids range from EUR 19.9 and EUR 26 million. The minimum fee set by the ministry in the tender document was BGN 15 million (EUR 7.7 million).

All five bids were submitted before the deadline (April 11). No candidates were removed and all of the five proposals will be carefully considered. Transport Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov said - “We are glad that this is such a competitive process. The offers themselves and the way they are structured show a very serious approach towards the airport’s development and its transformation into a decent aviation hub in Europe and outside Europe.” The minister didn´t give a deadline for announcing the tender winner but said it would take at least 10 days.

The Minister urged not to make speculation and hasty conclusions, who will be the selected concessionaire - "in front of us is not a light and very responsible process to assess financial proposals with a relative weight of 55% and technical proposals with a relative weight of 45%, with the final assessment being complex." He stressed that, as it was till the present moment, in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Financial Corporation (IFC) international consultants' expert assessment will also be relied upon.

The five bidders and their planned investment and annual fees are:

Aeroports de Paris-TAV Havalimanlari Holding consortium:

Annual concession fee: EUR 32,824,938.77 or 42.80%.
Amount of planned investments: EUR 903 million.

Manchester Airports Group in consortium with China’s state-owned Beijing Construction Engineering Group:

• Annual concession fee: EUR 19 948 052.75 or 26.01%.
• Amount of planned investments: EUR 1 002 927 412.

French infrastructure investor Meridiam alongside Munich Airport:

• Annual concession fee: EUR 24,542,010.30 or 32%.
• Amount of planned investments: EUR 608 million.

Swiss-based SSB Sauerwein & Schaefer with Copenhagen Airports:

• Annual concession fee: EUR 26,050,000 or 30.97%.
• Amount of planned investments: There is no specific amount specified in the binding proposal.

Frankfurt airport operator Fraport:

• Annual concession fee: EUR 21,000,000 or 27.39%.
• Amount of planned investments: about EUR 615 million.

The 35-year Sofia Airport concession concerns the operation and management of all buildings, facilities and visual air navigation systems within the airport territory, which spans a little over 5km2. It also involves the construction of a third terminal, which must be completed by the tenth year of the concession. The concessionaire will also have to undertake a study on possibly building a second runway.