Karamanite Airstrip

Economic reasons. The airstrip was an agricultural airfield operated to serve the local collective farm (TKZS). With the end of the socialist era in Bulgaria, the collective farms were dismantled, and the centralized, state-funded agricultural aviation system became defunct. The airstrip lost its purpose and funding, leading to its abandonment.

The airstrip is completely abandoned and has been reclaimed by nature and agriculture. Satellite imagery of the coordinates shows the faint, ghostly outline of a single runway within a large agricultural field. The land is now actively farmed. There are no remaining structures such as hangars, control towers, or service buildings on the site. All aviation infrastructure has been removed or has decayed.

Karamanite Airstrip was a typical example of the extensive network of agricultural airfields ('selkostopansko letishte') built across Bulgaria during its socialist period. Its sole purpose was to support large-scale, industrialized agriculture in the fertile Dobrudzha region. Operations consisted almost exclusively of crop dusting, pest control, and fertilization flights. The aircraft used were likely the workhorses of Eastern Bloc agricultural aviation, such as the Antonov An-2 and the Zlin Z-37 Čmelák, which were capable of operating from short, unpaved grass strips.

There are no known official or private plans to reopen or redevelop the Karamanite Airstrip. The original infrastructure is gone, and the land has been fully converted back to agricultural use. There is no current economic or strategic incentive for reactivating an airfield at this location.