Sofia Airport SPJSC - Sofia - Short Company profile

Ground operators are the companies responsible for passenger check-in, baggage handling, final gate passage, aircraft servicing such as loading and unloading baggage, pushing, de-icing (the process of removing or thawing snow), etc. For this purpose, they conclude contracts with various airlines. As of this year, there is a new company at Sofia Airport - "Aviapartner Bulgaria", owned by the Belgian Aviation Ground Handling Services, with Bulgaria now included in the Aviapartner group of locations, specialized in the activity and founded in 1949. Sofia Airport, represented by the concessionaire "SOF Connect", has practically exited its ground handling business (it was one of the three operators to date with a 17% market share in ground handling according to the company's latest report). And the airline clients and employees have been transferred to the new player. Aviapartner's clients include British Airways, Israeli EL AL and Israir, Polish Enter Air, Ukrainian Wind Rose, Turkish Pegasus Airlines and Onur Air, German Eurowings, Bulgarian European Air Charter and VBB (Alk), as well as SunExpress, a joint venture of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines. For clients, the player will compete with the other two operators - Swissport Bulgaria (51% of the Swiss company of the same name and 49% of the Chimimport group) and the Greek-based company Goldair Handling. Aviapartner Bulgaria includes ground handling, an airline ticket sales agency, bus transport between terminals, activities related to passengers with reduced mobility (PRM), and a number of other services. Aviapartner Bulgaria now has a staff of about 200 people, approximately 70% women and 30% men. The sole owner of Aviapartner Bulgaria's capital is Aviation Ground Handling Services, Belgium. In November 2024, Aviation Ground Handling Services CA was attracted as an investor in Omega Aviation. It now bears the name "AviaVIP Bulgaria", with the Belgian company having 60% and the remaining 40% belonging to Tony Totov, which is the business aviation brand. On January 23, 2026, "Aviapartner Bulgaria" received a license for ground handling at "Vasil Levski" Airport - Sofia. "Aviapartner" has been developing steadily since its establishment in 1949 and today we are present in the six largest markets in the European Union, which together represent over 70% of the total EU-27 market. AviaVIP is "Aviapartner's" business aviation brand. Aviapartner is a Belgian company with headquarters near Brussels Airport. It is one of the independent providers of such services in Europe and operates at 78 airports in Europe and Africa. It was founded in 1949. To date, it has operations in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Estonia, Angola and South Africa. It employs over 18,000 people and serves more than 120 million passengers annually. The company offers a wide range of services to over 500 passenger and cargo airlines. Globally, the company provides ramp service for around 800,000 aircraft movements annually, handles approximately 300,000 tons of air cargo and operates airport business lounges at 7 European airports. AviaVIP is a member of the Aviapartner Group and operates one of the largest networks of this type of business in Europe, with 66 locations. The latest report on the activities of "SOF connect" shows that in ground operations the company had 17.3% of the market, with the other two having a much more serious presence. Swissport Bulgaria's clients are Bulgaria Air, Air Serbia, Corendon Airlines; Qatar Airways (at least until recently), Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss - LX. Swissport, based in Switzerland, has been operating at Sofia Airport since 2007. In 2013, Chimimport, through its aviation division Bulgarian Airways Group, bought a minority stake in Swissport Bulgaria. Goldair Handling serves the low-cost major clients Easy Jet, Wizz Air and Ryanair, as well as Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot, Olympic Air, LOT, TAROM, Fly Dubai and BH Air.