Gorna Oryahovitsa Airport (IATA: GOZ, ICAO: LBGO) is international airport near Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. It is used predominately for cargo, as the last regular passenger flights to Sofia were abolished in the end of the last decade. The airport is believed to have very good prospective, because of its situation in the centre of the country, the lack of big airports nearby, and the huge number of tourists in the area coming from abroad, but unfortunately it is the most undeveloped of the five international airports in Bulgaria.

History

The airport is established in 1925 and was originally used primarily by Bulgarian Air Force. In 1948 is opened a regular civil air route to Sofia, the third such in the country. The current track was completed in 1973 and has concrete construction, asphalt in 1982. In 1978 completed a new terminal and administration building, and in 1994 – a new building for air traffic management. During the 1970s and 1980s Balkan Airlines operated regular flights to Sofia and Varna.In 1995 he became an international airport and it is open border and customs post. In 2002 the government decided to start a concession for the airport. By November 2011 there were three concession procedures ran by the government but they still can’t find an operator for the airport.

Overview

The airport has been equipped with a high intensity light system - First Category, for landing and taking off in conditions of poor visibility. There is a 5 stand apron that can accommodate large airplanes: Boeing 737, An-12, IL-76 and A 320.

Although there are no scheduled flights to and from the airport, there is a small number of charters and business jets using it. The charter flights are mainly used from football teams, which are playing with PFC Litex Lovech in the Lovech town which is 80 km farther from the airport. Until 2002 the airport was used from the Bulgarian division of Ideal Standard as cargo hub for its Bulgarian production, but ceased operations due to changes in logistic plans. In 2011 the airport had 68 cargo flights with 19 tons of cargo. According to the Civil Aviation Administration in Bulgaria, in 2011 the passenger traffic at GOZ was 562 passengers and 1,351 airfrat movements.

Developing

Since the state intend to grant a concession for some of its airports, they are developing plans for “Gorna Oryahovitsa Airport”. The interest isn’t so big for big passenger companies, but some cargo airlines and operators have interest in concessing the airport. Decision will be made in the late 2009 or early 2010 together with the concession of another Bulgarian airport- Ruse Airport.

Airlines and destinations

There are no scheduled services to and from Gorna Oryahovitsa Airport.

Images and information placed above are from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorna_Oryahovitsa_Airport

We thank them for the data!

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.