Kubrat Airstrip

Primarily economic reasons. The airstrip was an operational base for the Bulgarian state-owned agricultural aviation company ('Селскостопанска авиация' - SSA). After the political changes of 1989, the SSA was privatized and eventually liquidated. The dismantling of large, state-run collective farms and the transition to a market economy eliminated the demand for large-scale, centralized aerial crop-dusting, rendering the extensive network of agricultural airstrips, including Kubrat, economically unviable.

The airstrip is permanently closed and abandoned for aviation use. The site has been repurposed, and a large photovoltaic (solar) power plant has been constructed directly on a significant portion of the former runway and adjacent land. The remaining sections of the asphalt runway are in a state of severe decay, with extensive cracking and vegetation growing through the surface. The original support buildings are either derelict or have been removed.

During the socialist era in Bulgaria (c. 1950s-1989), Kubrat Airstrip was a vital piece of local infrastructure for the country's highly centralized agricultural sector. Its primary purpose was to serve as a base for agricultural aircraft, most notably the Antonov An-2 biplane. These planes conducted operations such as crop dusting, aerial seeding, fertilization, and pest control over the vast collective farms in the agriculturally rich Ludogorie region. The airstrip was part of a nationwide network of nearly 100 similar airfields that were crucial to maximizing agricultural output under the planned economy.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the Kubrat Airstrip. The construction of a permanent and substantial solar power plant on the runway effectively prevents any future use for aviation without a complete and costly removal of the energy infrastructure. The site's future is in renewable energy generation, not aviation.