Novo Selo Cropduster Strip

The closure was due to economic reasons. The strip was part of a large network of agricultural airfields supporting state-run collective farms during Bulgaria's socialist period. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the centralized agricultural system was dismantled, and the state-owned agricultural aviation enterprise ('Selsko-Stopanska Aviatsiya' - SSA) collapsed. This eliminated the demand for widespread crop-dusting services, rendering hundreds of small, specialized airfields like this one economically obsolete and leading to their abandonment.

The site is completely abandoned and defunct. Satellite imagery of the coordinates reveals a faint outline of a single, unpaved runway which is now heavily overgrown with grass and vegetation. There are no visible buildings, hangars, or any other aviation infrastructure remaining. The land has effectively reverted to an unused field, surrounded by active agricultural plots. It is not used for any purpose.

The Novo Selo Cropduster Strip was a typical agricultural airfield ('letishte') from the socialist era in Bulgaria. Its sole purpose was to serve as a base for agricultural aviation. Operations primarily involved aircraft like the Antonov An-2 and Zlin Z-37 Čmelák, which were used for crop dusting, aerial spraying of pesticides and fertilizers, and other agricultural tasks over the vast farmlands in the Ruse Province. It was a crucial piece of infrastructure for the industrialized, large-scale farming model of the time. The airfield had no military or passenger service role and should not be confused with the major NATO Novo Selo Training Area, which is located in a different part of Bulgaria (Sliven Province).

There are zero known plans or prospects for reopening the Novo Selo Cropduster Strip. The economic and agricultural model that required such an airfield no longer exists. Modern agricultural aviation, where used, is far more limited in scale and often employs more advanced, smaller aircraft or drones that do not require dedicated runways of this type. The strip is one of hundreds of similar abandoned agricultural airfields across Bulgaria, and there is no economic or strategic incentive for its restoration.