Bulgaria's Transport Ministry is to be granted BGN 2.05 M (EUR 1.046 M) to pay off its debts to two airports on which it recently decided to grant concession.

The airports of Plovdiv and Gorna Oryahovitsa will be transferred the total amount of money owned by the state, the government has said, without immediately elaborating the respective sums that are to be allocated to each airport.

The debts that have piled up consist of fees that the state-owned facilities were to receive over the past years to ensure safety of flights and infrastructure maintenance and development.

In January, the cabinet announced it would award a concession for the airport in the northern Bulgarian town Gorna Oryahovitsa to the sole bidder - Civilian Airport Gorna Oryahovitsa Consortium, which some media reports have linked to Rumen Gaytanski, a controversial Bulgarian businessman.

Subsequently, in March, a tender procedure was announced for the airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city.

Sofia Airport, the biggest one in the country located on the outskirts of the capital, was also put up for concession, which however was halted by a forfeiture claim filed by a Gulf consortium.