Jetex and SOF Connect Sign Agreement to Open VIP Lounge Complex at Sofia Airport

Jetex and SOF Connect have signed an agreement to establish and operate a VIP lounge complex at Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, described as Bulgaria's main international airport and the sixth-largest international airport in Central and Eastern Europe. The new facility, named Jetex Sofia, will occupy the west wing of Terminal 1 with a dedicated entrance and a network of lounges, and it will serve both private aviation clients and VIP passengers travelling on scheduled commercial flights.

The complex is expected to handle more than 30,000 passengers in 2027. Adel Mardini, founder and CEO of Jetex, said Sofia is becoming a leading aviation hub in Eastern Europe and noted plans to expand the airport's capacity from 8 million to 20 million passengers per year. Jesús Caballero, CEO of SOF Connect, said the arrival of Jetex at the airport is another step in the strategy to transform it into a five-star regional hub, adding that the partnership will combine world-class hospitality with comfort and convenience for passengers.

Jetex operates a global network of more than 40 VIP terminals at locations including Paris, London, Istanbul, Milan, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Marrakech and Singapore. The opening of Jetex Sofia will add to the company's presence in Eastern Europe.

Pairing a private-aviation brand with a commercial terminal lounge shows how VIP ground-handling operators are widening their addressable market beyond bizjet passengers, selling the same hospitality standard to premium scheduled-airline travelers. For an FBO-style operator, this kind of tie-up turns a terminal's west wing into an additional revenue stream without requiring the operator to hold traffic rights or fly aircraft itself — it is a services and real-estate play layered on top of an airport's own expansion plans.

How this segment works is that lounge operators typically stake their pitch on passenger volume forecasts tied to airport capacity growth, in this case Sofia's stated plan to move from 8 million to 20 million annual passengers. The 30,000-passenger target for the lounge in 2027 gives a concrete marker against which the partnership's early traction can be measured.

What comes into focus next is whether the airport's capacity expansion proceeds on the schedule Mardini described, since the lounge's passenger volumes are pegged to that broader buildout rather than to Jetex's existing terminal network alone.