site.btaBulgaria Is Ready to Operate More Emergency Flights to Israel

The Bulgarian Transport Minister Wednesday said that Bulgaria is ready to organize more emergency flights to Israel, if needed. Commenting on the situation in the Middle East and the return of Bulgarian citizens from Israel, Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov said, “We stand ready to operate emergency flights whenever necessary and to help anyone who wants to get back to Bulgaria.”

He was talking to journalists during an inspection of a newly built section of the Europe motorway between the town of Dragoman and the village of Kalotina in Western Bulgaria.

Gvozdeikov added that the flight operational procedures are in sync with the Foreign Affairs Ministry because there are strict rules put in place, including from the European Commission.

“As of now, there is no evacuation of European citizens from Israel. We are helping people who briefly visited the country and are unable to return because some of the airlines have cancelled their flights. Citizens with permanent Israeli residency remain there because there is no general evacuation underway.”

So far, two flights to Tel Aviv have been carried out by a government Airbus to bring Bulgarians back home, and one evacuation flight has been operated by a private carrier in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel.