Novinite.com

Flights taking off from Sofia Airport are being delayed by 2-3 hours on Monday.

"
Severe weather is affecting Sofia Airport, and the entire city,"
Plamen Stanchev, the airport director, stated, adding that: "
The runways for takeoff and landing, and the taxiing approaches, have all been cleared"
.

According to him, the process of de-icing planes before takeoff is the cause of the delays.

"
De-icing treatment of an aircraft before takeoff takes between 20 and 30 minutes. When there are five or six flights lined up, with takeoff slots every 5-10 minutes, you may easily calculate that the delays extend to two hours,"
he explained.

Stanchev has denied statements made by passengers, that they had seen only one machine to clear snow.

The airport was also the scene of an emergency landing earlier on Monday, following the malfunctioning of a flight bound for Madrid. The procedure was carried out successfully.