Bulgaria Own Presidential TU-154 Aircraft Still for Sale

The TU-154 aircraft, known in Bulgaria as the “President’s Plane” is auctioned by Bulgaria’s GERB cabinet. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgaria’s government is trying to sell at a public auction the country’s own TU-154 aircraft, similar to the one that crashed in Russia Saturday with Poland’s President, Lech Kaczynski, on board.

In February, the Ministry of Transport began a procedure to sell the TU-154 which is part of the government "Aviation Squad 28."

The aircraft, known as the “President’s Plane,” has been involved in several incidents during it years of service; the latest on January 30, 2008, when President, Georgi Parvanov, had come back from an overseas trip without reaching his destination after the plane did an emergency landing on the Azores.

The craft is still been auctioned. It became obsolete after the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Parliament began using the Airbus A 319 which is leased from Balkan Holidays Airlines.

The cabinet wanted to return the second Airbus back to the leasing company, but the outcome remains unclear and the Council of Ministers is now considering keeping it for official use.

The 2 Airbuses cost the State EUR 190 M. Part of the funds was paid in advance by the former Three-Way Coalition cabinet, led by socialist Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev.

Poland’s President, Lech Kaczynski, who was due to visit Smolensk to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, in which Soviet troops killed thousands of Poles, died Saturday when the government TU-154 plane crashed near the airport of the Russian city.

According to latest reports, all 96 passengers and crew also died. The delegation included top politicians, clergy and military men, among them the Governor of the Polish Central Bank, the Army’s Chief of Staff, former ministers, Members of the Parliament, deputy ministers, relatives of the 1940 Katyn victims, intellectuals.

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