Bulgarian Transport Minister Danail Papazov has dismissed Plovdiv Airport head Doychin Angelov.

Angelov was appointed Director of Plovdiv Airport on October 9, 2009, during the term in office of the previous center-right GERB government.

Angelov, as cited by the Focus news agency, made clear Monday that a decision of the Transport Minister ordering that two members of the Board of Directors be replaced had been faxed to Plovdiv Airport late Thursday afternoon.

He emphasized that the decision for his dismissal did not provide motives but only informed about the appointment of Ivan Karnabitov and Ivanka Petkova as BoD members and the termination of his participation in the Board of Directors.

Angelov commented that he expected Karnabitov to be appointed as his successor.

Karnabitov headed the Commercial Department of Plovdiv Airport until his dismissal by Angelov six months ago.

Regarding the appointment of Ivanka Petkova, Angelov explained that she had been an associate of former Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev and had been a member of the Airport's BoD until 2009, but insisted that she was an outside person.

He said that the decision for his replacement by Karnabitov was the better scenario for the development of the Airport because he was not an outsider and was well acquainted with the problems at Plovdiv Airport.

During Angelov's term in office, year-round regular flights were opened for the first time in the history of the airport, according to investor.bg.

Plovdiv Airport currently offers regular flights between London and Plovdiv three times a week and regular flights connecting Frankfurt and Plovdiv twice a week.

Angelov expressed regrets that he had not managed to increase the salaries of the staff but noted that there had been no job cuts at the Airport during his term in office.

In 2012, Plovdiv Airport processed over 90 000 passengers.

Since the launch of the first regular flight in 2010, over 180 000 passengers have passed through the airport.