Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

“We are looking for ways to bring back state quotas for the training of Bulgarian pilots as it was the case years ago”. That was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Anton Ginev today during a roundtable on: “Pilot training and employment of civil aviation staff - state, perspectives and commitments of the state institutions”.

During the discussion Deputy Minister Anton Ginev said that achieving an effective and sustainable operative system for Bulgarian pilots’ training would be possible if all stakeholders are involved. He was optimistic that the discussion is a step in the right direction and will lead to the achieving positive results.

In his words during the pre-selection of candidate pilots a committee should be appointed among representatives of CAA, MES and the Bulgarian airlines and training centers. The selected applicants should have the opportunity to sign preliminary labour contracts with Bulgarian airlines and assume their responsibilities for non-fulfilment. This would provide guarantee to the candidates in terms of the job, to the airlines in terms of employing pilots and to the state in terms of the invested funds, added Deputy Minister Ginev.

The participants in the discussion agreed on several ideas and proposals, which are to be discussed in details at a later stage in order to pinpoint the best approach for the training of Bulgarian pilots.

The roundtable was organized by Balkan transport and infrastructure forum /BTIF/ and the Bulgarian Airlines Association /BAA/. The Vice-President of the Transport, Information Technology and Communications Committee at the National Assembly Georgi Svilenski, the MP and member of the Transport, Information Technology and Communications Committee at the National Assembly Petar Mutafchiev, the Director General of the “Civil Aviation Administration” Mincho Tsvetkov, President of BAA Svetoslav Stanulov, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, representatives of Bulgarian airlines, flight training centers, the Veterans Union of BGA, the Civil Aviation Pilots Union, Air Transport Department at the Technical University “Todor Kableshkov” and Bulgarian experts in the field of civil aviation participated in the conference.