Swissport International has established a ground handling company in Sofia, Bulgaria. Christian Draeger, md, says: "With the country's strong economic growth and its rapidly rising air travel volumes, the new operation fits ideally into the Swissport strategy of gaining key footholds in promising new markets."

Bulgaria, which joined the E.U. in January this year, has a fast expanding economy and business aviation prospects are said to be good. "Swissport Bulgaria will now enter this market as the first independent ground handling company at Sofia airport," says Draeger. "We're greatly looking forward to further developing our activities in the rapidly growing southeast European market following our successful market entry in Kiev one year ago."

Under current plans, Swissport Bulgaria should handle its first flight at the airport on June 18. Swissport International is owned by Ferrovial, a European infrastructure and service corporation based in Spain. It is active at 180 airports in 43 countries on five continents.