Annual Monitoring Report 2025 - Bulgaria

Download Report

Contextual information

National performance plan adopted following Commission Decision (EU) 2025/1054 of 19 May 2025

List of ACCs   1

Sofia ACC



No of airports in the scope of the performance plan

≥80’K     0
<80’K      0

Exchange rate (1 EUR=) 

2022: 1 EUR
2025: 1 EUR

Share of Union-wide traffic (TSUs) 2025  4.0%

Share of Union-wide en route costs 2025  2.0%

Share en route / terminal costs 2025  100% / 0%

En route charging zone(s)

Bulgaria

Terminal charging zone(s)

Main ANSP 

• BULATSA

Other ANSPs 

–

MET Providers 

• ACFJ&PECASUS

Traffic (En route traffic zone)

  • Bulgaria recorded 1,129K actual IFR movements in 2025, +7.5% compared to 2024 (1,050K).

  • Actual 2025 IFR movements were +1.3% above the plan (1,114K).

  • Actual 2025 IFR movements were +28.4% above the actual 2019 level (879K).


  • Bulgaria recorded 5,508K actual service units in 2025, +9.8% compared to 2024 (5,015K).

  • Actual 2025 service units were +3.8% above the plan (5,306K).

  • Actual 2025 service units are +36.6% above the actual 2019 level (4,032K).

Safety (Main ANSP)

  • In 2025, Bulatsa achieved the planned maturity levels set out in its performance plan for all five components of the EoSM. When looking ahead to end of RP4, Bulatsa has already achieved 4 out of 5 EoSM targets, needing improvement in Safety Risk Management component to reach the RP4 targets.

  • Bulgaria has not included any airports in their RP4 performance plans, thus not reporting on runway incursions during the reference period.

  • The rate of separation minima infringements (SMIs) at State level was 2.93, and at ANSP level 2.71. Both indicators were below the Union-wide average.

Environment (Member State)

  • Bulgaria registered a KEA performance of 3.38%. Their target of 3.33% was not achieved and Bulgaria did not contribute positively to Union-wide performance. The NSA states the main reason for not meeting the target was Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, lack of sufficient capacity in neighbouring ACC and airline preferences for longer routes.

  • KEP and KES improved in comparison with 2024. The improvement in KES shows that Bulgaria has improved the element of horizontal flight efficiency that is under its control.

  • VFE of the actual trajectory was at 76.66%, which was above the average Union-wide average.

  • Bulgaria has not included any airports in their RP4 performance plans.

Capacity (Member State)


  • Bulgaria registered 0.05 minutes of average en route ATFM delay per flight during 2025, which remained 0.05 after the post-ops adjustment process, thus achieving the local target value of 0.24. Delays in Bulgaria decreased by -0.05 minutes per flight year-on-year. Delays were highest in May to October, entirely driven by weather.

  • The share of delayed flights with delays longer than 15 minutes in Bulgaria decreased by -25 percentage points compared to 2024.

  • The number of ATCOs in OPS was 162, being below the 2025 plan in Sofia ACC by -2.5 FTE.

  • The yearly total of sector opening hours in Sofia ACC was 42,159, showing a 1% increase compared to 2024.

  • Sofia ACC registered 26.08 IFR movements per one sector opening hour in 2025, +7% compared to 2024.

Cost-efficiency (En route/Terminal charging zone(s))


  • The en route 2025 actual unit cost of Bulgaria was 26.46€2022, -2.9% lower than the determined unit cost (27.25€2022). Bulgaria does not have a terminal charging zone.

  • The en route 2025 actual service units (5.5M) were +3.8% higher than the determined service units (5.3M).

  • The en route 2025 actual total costs were +1.1M€2022 (+0.8%) higher than determined. This is mainly due to higher other operating costs (+2.2M€2022, or +19.1%) of BULATSA, partially compensated by lower staff costs than planned (-1.0M€2022, or -1.1%). The NSA explained that the increase in other operating costs is attributable to the increase of the costs of external services, health and life insurance, and software maintenance and development.

  • BULATSA costs of investments were 23.8M€2022 in 2025, +1.8% more than determined (23.4M€2022). According to the NSA, this increase is due to the development of the investment cycle.

  • The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2025 was 29.87€ (-1.6% below the 2025 DUC). The difference between the AUCU and the DUC is mainly driven by the traffic risk sharing adjustment.

  • The en route regulatory result for BULATSA amounted to +16.2M€, or 10.4% of the 2025 revenue. This may indicate that the airspace users are charged for costs which have not materialised in 2025.