Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Georgi Todorov opened today the Bulgarian Aviation Club with a museum exhibition at Sofia Airport.

During the event, Deputy Minister Todorov said that aviators will now have the opportunity to gather and share their experiences and knowledge through the realization of this idea. In his words the club will store documents valuable for the history of the Bulgarian aviation, as well as books and exhibits which everyone who wishes, can see with no entrance fee. He appealed to everyone who has the opportunity and willingness, to donate photos, memories, stories, documents and other objects related to the Bulgarian aviation, and thereby preserve the history of the Bulgarian aviation for future generations. 

Deputy Minister Georgi Todorov also said that Bulgaria is among the first to realize the importance of aviation for the social and economic development which is why one of the main objectives is the creation of conditions which would lead to stability and consistency in the development of this sector.

In this respect, he added that the results of Sofia airport for the first nine months of this year are encouraging and show an increase of 10% in passenger traffic and the serviced flights are with 4.5% more than last year. He also recalled that the deployment of search and rescue system in air accidents has started.

On behalf of the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Nikolina Angelkova, Deputy Minister Georgi Todorov gave the Bulgarian Aviation Club a stamps classifier on aviation theme and awarded Karamfil Stamenkov and Hristo Hristov a certificate for contribution to the preservation of the cultural heritage in the field of Bulgarian civil aviation. He awarded Pesho Mladenov a certificate for the years of service in the Bulgarian Civil Aviation and on his 90^th anniversary. The exhibition "I dream to fly" was presented with drawings of children from various kindergartens in Sofia, as well as Andon Andonov’s book "Four brothers and a sky."

The Executive Director of Sofia airport, Hristo Shterionov, announced that the visit of the Bulgarian Aviation Club exhibition will become part of the sightseeing tours organized by the airport. These include introduction to the inner part of the airport and all travel activities. The initiative enjoys significant interest, as 400 people have already taken advantage of the opportunity to see it, he added.

The exhibition area of the Bulgarian Aviation Club includes exhibits and documents arranged in two sections - Historical Exposition, which includes series of historical materials, displays of medals and awards, as well as miniatures of all the airplanes flown by AC “Balkan”. A separate sector presents the airport modernization plans, a model of the new terminal and the old scoreboard, preserved with the schedule of the last day the terminal functioned. This section also contains an old flight simulator for An-24, as well as the directed, which on June 29^th 1947 led the first regular flight from Sofia to Burgas, which is perceived as the beginning of the Bulgarian Civil Aviation. In the second section - Contemporary Bulgarian Civil Aviation, the Association of Bulgarian Airlines and each Bulgarian airline has submitted their activities with photographic materials and aircraft models.