Category: Media center

The Director General of BULATSA Mr. Georgi Peev participated in CANSO CEO Strategy Summit which took place on 11 March 2019, prior to the opening of the World ATM Congress (WATMC). The biggest international event for air traffic management, organized by CANSO in partnership with the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA), was opened yesterday in Madrid and will continue until 14 March.
The Summit started the activities related to WATMC and is an event with the participation of high-level professionals which brings together CANSO Member CEOs to discuss the current development of the ATM industry and the CANSO strategy. This year a main topic of the discussions is “Cybersecurity in ATM”.
As part of WATMC 2019 Georgi Peev also participated in the CANSO Conference “Tackling the Big Issues in ATM – Capacity, UTM Integration, People”. At the forum were discussed the integration and management of drones, attracting and keeping the next generation of ATM professionals and exploring the best ways to provide the necessary growth in ATM capacity. Keynote speakers at the Conference were Mr. Henrik Hololei, Director-General for Mobility and Transport, the European Commission, and Mr. Daniel Elwell, Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the USA.
The international partners of the aviation community marked also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of BULATSA.

The ski team of BULATSA ranked 10th in the 44th International Winter-Championship of Air Traffic Controllers, which was held in Sochi. More than 700 skiers from 49 teams from all over Europe, USA, Australia and Russia competed in the disciplines cross-country skiing, snowboarding and giant slalom skiing in Rosa Khutor resort.
25 Bulgarian air traffic controllers from BULATSA took part in all disciplines. Very good results were achieved by Svetlin Tzvetanov, who ranked 6th in his age group in the giant slalom, and Georgi Doganov – 10th in the ski running. The team also won the “Best Design T-shirt” cup, dedicated to Sanya Borzak (a Russian colleague who has passed away a few months ago).

A postage stamp on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of BULATSA was validated today by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Rossen Jeliazkov, Deputy Minister Dimitar Genovski, BULATSA Director General Georgi Peev and the CEO of Bulgarian Posts Deyan Duneshki. They put a stamp on the issue, which represents a postage stamp in a block at value of 2 leva in a circulation of 7,000 pieces. The artist is Emilio Borata and the postage stamp can be found today at the post offices in the country.
“BULATSA will also service Istanbul airport, we are much ahead in the sector from leading European countries such as Germany and France,” said Minister Rossen Jeliazkov during the ceremony. “If we are to compare the minutes of delay, in our case they are close to zero. Imagine the largest airport in the world, like that in Istanbul, to be serviced by the Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority”, added the minister.
Director General Georgi Peev thanked all former and current employees of BULATSA and announced that the enterprise has taken medium-term and long-term measures to ensure the necessary capacity in the Bulgarian airspace. They are related to both the infrastructure and the necessary human resources – air traffic controllers and engineers.
The guests visited the operational room and the training simulator, where they were shown how in reality the Bulgaria’s traffic is being serviced.

The Director General of BULATSA, Georgi Peev, participated in the 66-th meeting of the European Committee of the CEOs of the Air Traffic Service Providers (ANSPs) members of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation – CANSO, which was held on 8 February 2019 at the EUROCONTROL Headquarters in Brussels.
The main focus of the discussions was the formation of the strategic vision for CANSO Europe by 2035. ANSPs agreed on key principles supporting the achievement of the set long-term goals, whereby the concrete steps include: protecting the end-user’s interest, optimizing the regulatory framework regarding Airspace Management (ASM), improving the planning of short-term and long-term capacity in the provision of Air Navigation Services (ANS) and enhanced introduction of technological solutions that allow centralized provision of specific ATM services. In addition, specificities were discussed regarding the role of ANSPs in the improvement of the capacity of European airspace, the intensively increasing use of drones for commercial and amateur purposes, the development of U-Space concept, as well as the aspects of cyber security and market services.
In conclusion, ANSPs exchanged up-to-date information on the on-going initiatives of the European Commission.

Sofia Airport dedicated the February edition of the initiative “Aviation School” to the 50th anniversary of the Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority. The event was opened by Asya Ivanova, Chairman of Sofia Airport Board of Directors, Vladimir Rapondjiev, Executive Director and Ivan Diaksov, BULATSA Deputy Director General.
From the head of BULATSA Training Center Dimitar Chunchukov, the children learned what the air traffic controllers were doing and examined one of the workplaces – the airport control tower from which are controlled the flights conducted at the metropolitan airport. They were told about the specificity of the work in winter conditions and why it is important to clean the runway and to mandatory spray the aircraft with special anti-icing liquid before take-off to ensure the safety of passengers.
The “School Day” concluded with award of diplomas to all participants.

Five Air Traffic Controllers from the Republic of Macedonia successfully completed the course for obtaining APS rating. The training was provided by Bulgarian instructors from BULATSA’s Training Center in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2015/340. The training contract with M-NAV was awarded to BULATSA within a tender procedure.

BULATSA is celebrating its 50th anniversary today. On 3 February 1969, with Ordinance No. 37 of the Council of Ministers, was established Directorate “Air Traffic Control” (ATC) as a separate, independent organizational structure within the State Economic Association “Bulgarian Civil Aviation”, with the main task of providing and servicing the air traffic in the airspace of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The main subject of activity of the enterprise is the safe air traffic management and for these 50 years it has become one of the leading air navigation services providers in our region.

In the last few years the traffic over Bulgaria has drastically increased and, in 2018 alone, BULATSA (Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority) serviced over 800 000 aircraft. Also increasing is the interest to the profession of air traffic controller and the recruitment campaign.

The program for modernization of the operational systems and technical equipment in BULATSA will continue in the following years in accordance with the approved “Strategy for Development of BULATSA Communication, Navigation and Surveillance, and Automated Air Traffic Management Aids and Systems for the Period 2017-2024”.

On the occasion of the jubilee will be validated a postage stamp and the emblematic BULATSA Control Tower at Sofia Airport is branded with a festive logo made especially for the anniversary.

The vision of BULATSA is to be among the leaders in the field of air navigation services in Europe and to successfully develop and meet the challenges posed by the new realities of the Single European Sky. The round anniversary will be celebrated throughout the year with various initiatives related to the profession of Air Traffic Controller and the aviation community, under the motto “50 Years Mapping Pathways in the Skies”.

The control tower of BULATSA at Sofia Airport is decorated from today to celebrate the 50-th anniversary of the company on 3 February 2019.
On this date in 1969, with Ordinance No. 37 of the Council of Ministers, was established Directorate “Air Traffic Control” (ATC) as a separate, independent organizational structure within the State Economic Association “Bulgarian Civil Aviation”, with the main task of providing and servicing the air traffic in the airspace of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The round anniversary of BULATSA (Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority) will be celebrated throughout the year with various initiatives related to the profession of Air Traffic Controller and the aviation community.
The Airport Control Tower in Sofia was opened on 05.12.2012 and is emblematic for the company. In its base is embedded a time capsule with a special message.
It was chosen as the building of the year in 2012, in the category “Special Purpose Buildings”.