The Government of Bulgaria has taken delivery of their first A109S Trekker from Leonardo for a new national air ambulance operation, with the aircraft landing in Sofia on 1st February. The helicopter was then the subject of an official presentation on February 2 in the presence of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, Health Minister Hristo Hinkov, Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeikov, Deputy Health Minister Ilko Getov and others.

Following a previously announced order for six Trekkers, HeliHub.com can report that a further two have now been announced.  The delivery schedule will see one helicopter arriving every six months, thus targeting for the full fleet of eight by mid 2027.

The original order for six helicopters was confirmed in November 2022.  Leonardo responded to the tender with a price of 123,363,956 Bulgarian Leva (+VAT) – $68.28M at today’s prices.  Recently, Transport Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov confirmed that further discussions with Leonardo for two more Trekkers at the same unit price had resulted in a budget allocation to take the fleet to eight.

Details of others bidders were not released.  Bulgaria has previously worked with Leonardo and used two A109K2 helicopters for EMS work in 2005-11 – these aircraft were previously with Rega Swiss Air Rescue.  After their time in Bulgaria, they moved to the country of Georgia, where they are operated by Geo-Sky Airlines.  No coordinated air ambulance operations have been flown in Bulgaria in the intervening 13 years, although some backup from the military has been provided on occasion.

The Bulgarian Border Police also operates three Leonardo helicopters – two A109E and one AW139.

The first six bases for the Trekker fleet have been named as in Sofia, Plovdiv, Sliven, Targovishte, Dolna Mitropolia and Montana. In the early phases, the first aircraft will be based at the Border Police unit at Sofia Airport.  Operations will be handled by a newly created state company “Bulgaria Heli Med Service”.

The project also includes the certification of hospital helipads.  The first two are at the MBAL Uni Hospital in Panagyurishte and St. Marina Hospital in Varna, and the third at St. Anna Hospital in Sofia has been confirmed this week.  A further 8-10 regional hospitals around the country will have certified helipads in due course.

The “Provision of Helicopters for Emergency Medical Response” project is being implemented with financial support from Operational Programme Regions in Growth 2014-2020, co-financed by the EU through the European Regional Development Fund. The project is part of Bulgaria’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.