Sometimes referred to as Letishte Sofia Vrazhdebna, Sofia Airport is the most important airport in the city of Sofia in Bulgaria. It is strategically located about 5 kilometers to the east of the Sofia city centre. Ever since the airport was initiated, the number of passengers it serves has been on an exponential rise. For instance, in the year 2011 alone, it served 3474 million passengers, both international and domestic.
There are a couple of airlines that run operations within the Sofia Airport and this includes Bulgarian Air Force and the Vrazhdeban Air Base. It is also worth noting that the airport was built in the 1930s. At that time, the Sofia populace was just limited to 250000 inhabitants. Even as the numbers have grown in excess of 1.2 million in the year 2011, the airport still offers the much desired services this end.
During the Second World War, the airport facilities were mainly used by the Bulgaria military. Passengers, mails and perishable operations only started in the year 1947. Ever since that time, with the ever increasing number of international customers, airport reconstruction has been a major engagement for the airport authorities. Terminal 1 is still dedicated for passengers.
There are many facilities that you can always expect to find at the airport. These include as a minimum, automatic teller machines, wash rooms, baby changing rooms, restaurants, bars and gift shops. It might also be good to note that Sofia Airport has got a special Very Important Personalities terminal that is used mainly for private aircrafts and air travel operations. This is the area that is most commonly used by many heads of state that are coming to Bulgaria through this airport.
Today, there are many airlines that serve this airport on a daily basis. Some of the most notable among these airlines include Aeroflot, Air France, Air Malta,Aerosvit Airlines, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, BH Air, Tyrolean Airways, Bulgaria Air, EasyJet, Polish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Olympic Air among many others.
Apart from the airport statistics, let us now look at how you would get to move from the airport to the city centre or whichever place you would want to go to. There are many options that you can avail when it comes to transport here in Sofia. You can choose car hire or bus shuttle services. There are many shuttles that operate on a daily basis ferrying passengers to and from the airport terminal.
If at all you want to get the most reliable services however, car hire is definitely an option that you cannot choose to overlook. There are many car hire companies which have set up base here at the airport. You can still book their services but that is not worth it. There are enough cars to take you around town. You will be driven by natives and if you need to visit some tourist attractions and book accommodation at the best hotels in the city, they would be more than glad to be of help to you.