Lovets, BG 🇧🇬 Closed Airport
BG-0103
-
640 ft
BG-24
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 42.2796° N, 25.59664° E
Continent: EU
Type: Closed Airport
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Approximately early 1990s (c. 1990-1993)
The airport's closure was a direct result of major economic and political changes in Bulgaria. It was not due to a specific incident but rather the systemic collapse of the state-run agricultural system following the end of the socialist era in 1989. The state-owned enterprise 'Agricultural Aviation' (Селскостопанска авиация), which operated a vast network of these strips, was dismantled. The privatization of farmland and the dissolution of large collective farms eliminated the demand and economic basis for such a dedicated, localized crop-dusting infrastructure.
The site is completely abandoned and no longer functions as an airfield. Satellite imagery shows that the land has been fully reclaimed for agricultural purposes. The former runway area is now part of a cultivated field, and there are no visible remnants of any aviation infrastructure such as hangars, service buildings, or markings. The site is indistinguishable from the surrounding farmland.
Lovets Cropduster Strip was a utilitarian airfield with local, rather than national, significance. It was an integral part of Bulgaria's socialist-era agricultural infrastructure. Its sole purpose was to serve as an operational base for agricultural aircraft, primarily the Antonov An-2 biplane. These planes conducted crop dusting, pest control, and fertilization operations for the large, state-run collective farms in the Stara Zagora region. It was one of hundreds of similar unpaved airstrips scattered across rural Bulgaria, all essential for the country's centralized agricultural model at the time.
There are no known plans or realistic prospects for reopening the Lovets Cropduster Strip. The economic model that supported its existence is gone. Modern agricultural aviation in Bulgaria is on a much smaller scale and typically operates from existing regional airports or private strips. The land has been re-purposed, and there is no economic or logistical incentive to re-establish an airfield at this location.
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