Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, located in Sofia, Bulgaria, has secured €450 million in international financing to fund the construction of a new Terminal 3 and the modernisation of its existing infrastructure, marking the most significant aviation capital investment in the country’s history. Operator SOF Connect confirmed that construction is scheduled to commence in autumn 2026, with the terminal targeted for full operational status by April 2031. The financing carries a 22-year tenor and is structured through a combination of bank lending and a project finance bond, the first of its kind issued by a Bulgarian public-private partnership on a regulated market, listed on Euronext Dublin. Leading international investors including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and UniCredit Group are participating in the package. Designed by Bulgarian architectural firm IPA in collaboration with aviation engineering specialists Egis and French airport design studio 1PAX, the new terminal will span approximately 65,000 square metres and connect directly to the refurbished Terminal 2, forming a unified airport system of roughly 110,000 square metres. Upon completion, the combined facility will be capable of handling up to 20 million passengers annually, nearly tripling current throughput. SOF Connect is also pursuing a five-star SkyTrax certification for Terminal 3, which would make it the first regional airport in Europe to achieve that designation.

Eastern Europe’s Airport Ambitions Signal a Broader Infrastructure Shift

Sofia’s Terminal 3 is part of a wider pattern of airport investment accelerating across the Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe as legacy facilities struggle to keep pace with post-pandemic traffic recovery and eurozone integration. Bulgaria’s accession to the eurozone in January 2026 is a direct factor in the project’s timing: the financing announcement explicitly cited the country’s strengthened macroeconomic standing as a catalyst for investor confidence. The parallel is instructive when set against Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport, where a long-debated new terminal has moved slowly through planning despite similar passenger growth pressures, underscoring that a credible concessionaire model with committed private capital can unlock infrastructure that purely state-led procurement struggles to deliver. SOF Connect holds a 35-year concession on Sofia Airport and has committed more than BGN 1.2 billion in total investment across the concession period. The project’s PPP structure, with the EBRD’s involvement acting as a credit enhancer for private bond investors, reflects a financing template increasingly favoured across the region for major greenfield aviation assets. Terminal 3 is also being designed with commercial area spanning 10,000 square metres and a transport hub featuring 21 bus bays, signalling that SOF Connect views the ground-level passenger ecosystem as central to the airport’s long-term revenue model, not just its operational capacity. Similar aviation expansion dynamics are now emerging elsewhere in the wider region, including Armenia’s planned Zvartnots Airport expansion, as governments and airport operators across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus move to modernise aging infrastructure and position themselves for long-term passenger growth and regional connectivity.

Project Fact Sheet

• Project Name: Sofia Airport Terminal 3 and Infrastructure Modernisation
• Location: Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Project Value: €450 million (approximately US$523 million); part of a total concession investment commitment exceeding BGN 1.2 billion (approximately €600 million)
• Terminal Floor Area: Approximately 65,000 sq m (Terminal 3); unified system with Terminal 2 totalling approx. 110,000 sq m
• Passenger Capacity (on completion): Up to 20 million passengers per annum
• Commercial Area: 10,000 sq m retail and food and beverage zone within Terminal 3
• Transport Hub: 21 bus bays and 9,000 sq m of access roads
• Procurement Model: Public-private partnership under a 35-year concession; design and build contract
• Financing Structure: Combination of bank lending and project finance bond listed on Euronext Dublin (22-year tenor)
• Construction Start: Autumn 2026
• Expected Completion: April 2031
• Certification Target: Five-star SkyTrax rating (would be the first regional airport in Europe to achieve this)
• Strategic Context: Follows Bulgaria’s eurozone accession in January 2026; supports the country’s role as an aviation gateway for Eastern Europe

Project Team

• Airport Operator / Concessionaire: SOF Connect
• CEO, SOF Connect: Jesus Caballero
• Concession Grantor: Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications
• Lead Architect: IPA — Architecture and More (Sofia, Bulgaria)
• Aviation Engineering Consultant: Egis Avia (France)
• Airport Design Studio: 1PAX (France)
• Lead Financier / Development Bank: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• Commercial Bank Partner: UniCredit Group
• Bond Market: Euronext Dublin (project finance bond listing)
• Baggage Handling Systems: Alstef Group (France) — contracted for baggage handling system at Sofia Airport
• Design and Build Contractor: Tender launched; contractor not publicly awarded at time of publication; firms active in Balkan airport construction include Limak Holdings and various European civil contractors