Sofia Airport (SOF) Tuesday 25th October 2022 LOG

[Airbus A346]

As mentioned earlier Sofia is a nightmare from landside, so an early start / breakfast to return the hire car. Ryanair operate from the new Terminal 2 so the plan was to get through security asap to maximize viewing time. The best vantage point is the end of the B gates. I did not use optics, and opted for photos to be studied later. Most of the stuff on the North side can be identified - luckily some enthusiasts from Stansted flew in and their report filled a few gaps.

Photos not quite sorted - they will follow in a separate thread shortly.

If anyone can assist with my queries it would be greatly appreciated

066	Let 410 UVP	Bulgarian Air Force	
067	Let 410 UVP	Bulgarian Air Force	
068	Let 410 UVP	Bulgarian Air Force	
070	Antonov An-26	Bulgarian Air Force	
071	C-27J Spartan	Bulgarian Air Force	
073	C-27J Spartan	Bulgarian Air Force	
080	Antonov An-26	Bulgarian Air Force   derelict
503	Mil-2	        Bulgarian Police	
504	Mil-2	        Bulgarian Police	
505	Mil-2	        Bulgarian Police	
5A-FLE	Avro RJ100	Air Libya	
5A-ONI	Airbus A319	Afriqiyah   stored
CS-VLZ	Gulfstream 280	Private	
D-AILA	Airbus A319	Lufthansa	
D-AINY	Airbus A320N	Lufthansa	
D-AIQU	Airbus A320 	Lufthansa	
D-AIRR	Airbus A321	Lufthansa	
EC-IYH	ATR-72	        Swift Air	
EI-GUL	ATR-72	        Fed Ex Feeder	
EI-SLV	ATR-72	        ASL Airlines   one engine missing
EI-SLW	ATR-72	        ASL Airlines	
EI-STV	Boeing 737-4SF	ASL Airlines	
HZ-AS41	Airbus A320 	white	LH Techniks ramp
I-BIKC	Airbus A320 	ex Alitalia   stored - assumed
I-BIKD	Airbus A320 	ex Alitalia   stored - assumed
I-BIKI	Airbus A320 	ex Alitalia   stored - assumed
LZ-AOB	Airbus A319	Bulgarian Government	
LZ-AWZ	Airbus A330	Gullivair	
LZ-BOT	Boeing 737-4	white with EU tail  stored
LZ-BRU	Avro RJ70	Avia Bravo	
LZ-BUR	Embraer 190	Bulgaria Air	
LZ-BVM	Boeing 737-4	Ellinair   stored
LZ-BVN	Boeing 737-4	white	   stored
LZ-BVR	Boeing 737-4	bare metal ex NWG   stored
LZ-BVU	Boeing 737-4	white 	   stored
LZ-CAN	Mil-8PS	        Bulgarian Government	
LZ-CAT	Mil-8PS	        Bulgarian Government	
LZ-DOE	Yak 40	        ex Hemus Air	derelict near T2
LZ-DOM	Yak 40	        ex Hemus Air	derelict near T2
LZ-FBA	Airbus A319	Bulgaria Air	
LZ-FBB	Airbus A319	Bulgaria Air	
LZ-FIB	IAI Galaxy	Private	
LZ-FLA	Antonov An-26	Bright Flight EU   stored
LZ-HBA	Bae 146-200	ex Hemus Air	 derelict near T2
LZ-HBB	Bae 146-200	ex Hemus Air	 derelict near T2
LZ-HBC	Bae 146-200	ex Hemus Air	 derelict near T2
LZ-HBD	Bae 146-300	ex Air Bulgaria	 derelict near T2
LZ-JET	Phenom 300	Private	
LZ-LDC	McDD MD-82	Bulgarian Air Charter	stored no engines
LZ-LDU	McDD MD-82	European Air Charter	active
LZ-LVK	Boeing 737-4	Air Lubo	
LZ-MVK	Boeing 737-5	ALK Airlines	
LZ-ONE	Airbus A330	Gullivair	
LZ-OOI	Falcon 2000	Bulgarian Government	
LZ-PDM  Premier 1       Private	
LZ-TUZ	Tupolev Tu-134A	Balkan Airlines	 instructional airframe
LZ-TYR	Boeing 737-4	Tayaran Jet   stored
N207AX  Boeing 767-2    Omni Air International
N423AX	Boeing 767-3	Private - exec c/s	
N600HZ	Praetor 600	Private	
OE-IWE	Boeing 737-4SF	Fed Ex	
OE-LBM	Airbus A320 	Austrian Airlines	
OE-LNJ	Boeing 757F	DHL	
OK-TSD	Boeing 737-4	Travel Service	
OY-RUU	Airbus A321	Corendon   parked North side
SP-RZF	Boeing 737-M8	Buzz c/s	
SP-RZI	Boeing 737-M8   Ryanair c/s	
SX-DIQ	ATR-72	        Astra Airlines	 stored semi derelict
SX-DVL	Airbus A321	Aegean Airlines	
TC-LCA	Boeing 737-M8   Turkish Airlines	
TU-VMB	Antonov An-26	Ivory Coast Air Force
UR-CUK	Let 410 UVP	white with blue tail	ex Bulgarian AF 064
UR-CUS	Let 410 UVP	white with blue tail	ex Bulgarian AF 063
UR-C??  Let 410 UVP	white with blue tail	ex Bulgarian AF 
UR-RWB	ATR-72	        Windrose Air	stored
UR-SQH	Boeing 737-8	Sky Up Airlines	
VP-CZH 	Airbus A320 	white	LH Techniks ramp

Queries:

Confirmation of the TU- Antonov An-26 ex Bulgarian Air Force, quoted as VMB but this was delivered in 2018 !

Confirmed - Ivory Coast Air Force it routed Abidjan > Niamey > Djerba > Sofia 10th October for overhaul.

Derelict white A320 North side - Western end

Derelict / part stripped B737 next to the A320

Identity for 3rd UR-  Let 410, most likely ex Bulgarian Air Force 065

Omni Air Boeing 767-2 landed around 1215 hrs. N207AX

[garstonboy]

Martin, I think your 'Bulgarian' AN-26 is TU-VMB. c/n 14303.

It seems to have a bit of form

090 An-26 Bulgarian AF d/d 1985 first noted SXF 10 Aug 1988; in white c/s with blue cheatline and trim, grey undersides; no titles; already stored at SOF
by jul06; seen again SOF apr10 as such; last noted SOF 02dec16, stored on the grass without a serial.
An-26 seen SOF Jan 2015 in light grey c/s; offered for sale Nov 2014 for $1 million by METALIKA-AB Ltd and was earmarked for the Mali
Air Force, but the sale had fallen through by early 2015; last noted SOF 29apr18.
TU-VMB An-26 Ivory Coast AF SOF 25 Jun 2018 in light grey c/s with roundels; d/d SOF-SFA (Sfax - Tunisia) 23 Jul 2018; seen ABJ 03 Jan 2019 with an additional large flag on the rear fuselage; seen ABJ 03 Mar 2020; registration previously used on an An-12 with unknown c/n.

[Airbus A346]

Thanks Barry, a great piece of information.

Indeed it has been around and about. The pieces of the jigsaw are now coming together. I have confirmation it returned to Sofia on 10th October.
Looking closely at my photo (now uploaded) all the bare metal and windows appear to be in the process of being masked prior to it being resprayed.
It will be interesting to see where it ends up. The Ivory Coast Air Force has recently taken delivery of a CASA 295M TU-VMC and presumably a second
one is on order - rendering the An-26s surplus.