News from Pamporovo

Slopes are open. Plenty of snow 2 days before Christmas. Phew!

Europe’s biggest low-cost airline Ryanair made its first flight to Plovdiv airport (PDV) from its base London Stansted (STN). The plane is a Boeing 737-800 jet, which was greeted with a water salute. The regular flights from London Stansted to Plovdiv will be on Tuеsday and Saturday. The ticket price starts from 32.99 euro.

Plovdiv airport has a brand new terminal finished in 2009 with 10 check-in desks with a parking lot for 50 cars and 20 buses. The airport is only 60 km from the ski resort Pamporovo.

The Plovdiv airport CEO Doichin Angelov together with the Bulgarian plane spotters’ site www.bgspotters.net planted a tree. Sweet!!!

News from the ground from those nice people in Bulgariaski.com… They’ve been working on the ski runs over the summer and two slopes have been widened to include the run down to Stoikite. One more ski run will be lit this season for night skiing. They’re planning on implementing electric boards throughout the slopes. The lift prices won’t be increased this year. Electronic ticket machines will be implemented for speed.

Good news for UK ski  tourists. Ryanair have recently announced the creation of a new service to the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv this winter.

Flights on the new route to Plovdiv, which is located close to the ski resort of Pamporovo, begin on November 2nd and will run every Tuesday and Saturday throughout the winter season.

Rumours, rumours, rumours.

This one has been floating around for a while now…

1: Location

Half of Bulgaria’s population live within an hour and a half of Plodiv airport. It has 2 major ski resorts a short distance away as well. The Trakia Highway is continuing to expand and in a few years it’ll reach Bourgas.

2: Ownership

The EU is rather touchy about State owned airports and their municipalities subsidizing the arrival of new airlines which has the knock on effect of stimulating the economy of the immediate surrounding area. However when airports are not in State hands it’s a rather different story. Plovdiv Airport, as far as we understand, is not operated on concession so is therefore not under direct State influence.

3:Logistics

The low cost model is new in Eastern Europe. The reason Ryanair don’t fly into Bulgaria at the moment may have to do with logistics. It’s a three hour flight there and three hour flight back. The best that they’ll be able to do is 4 journeys a day. This is viable, as long as they’re not giving away flights for one euro. And there’s no need to give away flights that cheap when there is no competition!

So it could finally be on the cards. We’ll keep our ear to the ground.

Newly renovated Plodiv airport

Watch this space.

The Winter Olympics has come and gone, and once again Bulgaria has drawn a blank. For a country that has serious aspirations to host the Olympics in the next eight years this isn’t really good enough. More has to be done to help these athletes reach their full potential and thus promote Bulgaria as a top ski destination. That’s my rant for today over.

PS. On the good side.  Skiing conditions great in Pamporovo at the moment with more snow due on Monday.

Pamporovo will host a snowmobile rally for the second year on 27 February. The event is called Snow temptation – Pamporovo 2010.
This is a one of its kind for Bulgaria competition with motor sledges on a specially marked terrain.
The competition will take place on two stages, pretty much like a classic car rally.
The first stage starts form Malina 3 ski lift – Pamporovo and is 8 km long. The terrain is really fast and the starts commence every 2 minutes
A safety zone for the audience, parking lot and competitors zone is planned at the beginning of the terrain. The second stage will take place of the ski slopes of “Pamporovo” Lts. The competitors will have a group start with direct eliminations. The terrains is 400 m long. The competitors will be divided in two classes, according to the engines of the snow mobiles. The starting fee is just 20 BGN and includes an insurance and a cocktail cover after the event.
Participants will be also able to rent a snow mobile.

Program of the event
Saturday, 27 Feb. 2010
07:30 – 10:00 AM – free training and machine fix.
10:00 – 11:00 AM – trechnical maintenance of the terrain;
11:00 – 02:00 PM – Stage 1 of the rally (Prevala – Perelik).
04:00 – 05:00 PM – Presentation of the sponsors of the event – Malina
05:00 – 07:00 PM – Rally stage 2 – Malina
07:00 – 07:30 PM – Demonstrations
7:30 – Award ceremony.

This year the competition will be bind with an eco initiative – buying back the emissions of carbon dioxide, emitted during the competition.

Just back from Pamporovo. Had a great break. I’ve uploaded a few snaps along with descriptions of what you’re looking at. Click here...Pamporovo photos