The current Director General of the Air Traffic Control Directorate (ATC), Diyan Dinev will soon be replaced, insiders comment. Several names have been rumoured for the senior position and the most frequently cited is that of Tzvetan Dilov. Longtime employees of ATC describe Dilov as the gray cardinal of the enterprise. He was a director during the period 1997-2001, and then Director-General up until 2006. At that time, scandals around air controllers were very frequent – and the draining of funds through renting and repairs to recreation facilities and hotels increased and protracted the contracts for the construction of a new centre for traffic control. These suspicions at one time occupied the time of the Parliament’s committee to fight corruption, no conclusion has been reached. Despite many doubts about his work as a head of the air traffic control body, after leaving the position, Tsvetan Dilov was appointed director of the key Safety department, which is responsible for the safety of air traffic over the country.
With the coming to power of GERB in 2009, Dilov was again among the contenders to lead the institution, but did not succeed. Subsequently, however, he managed to play well his cards and in April 2011, he became the director of the Regional Control Centre – Sofia. In practice, this is the main operational centre of air traffic control, since it serves air traffic all over Bulgaria and the Black Sea, or a territory with an area of ??145 thousand square kilometers.
For proteges of Tzvetan Dilov are considered several directors of key departments, a number of employees at a lower management level and even … the General Director Dian Dinev. Dilov’s enormous influence in the big blue building near the airport is not only due to his enviable experience, but also to his good relations with the Deputy Director General of the ATC responsible for administrative activities Ilia Manolev, who is a family friend of former Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.
Among the other names mentioned as likely candidates for the position Director-General is the head of the Air Traffic Management department Ivaylo Vasilev. He is a former emigrant who returned from Australia, and now under his leadership 230 air traffic controllers work. Albeit indirectly, he has also been mentioned by the BANKER when speaking of nepotist appointments. On 13 May 201, Margarita Staneva was appointed as his technical secretary – a close friend of the Minister of Transport in the interim government Christian Krastev. However, the overall comments on Vassilev’s work in professional aviation forums are rather positive.
In the game is also the current vice chairman in charge of the operative work – Angel Rachev. He was responsible for the deployment of SATCAS system by the Italian company SELEX (formerly known as Alenia Marconi). The software had to be ready in 2005, but was released only in the spring of 2008. Against the over 30 million euro paid by the state, it was expected that ATC would obtain one of the most advanced and reliable systems for the European air traffic management, but in the weeks before its release it showed very serious defects. Instead of prosecuting Selex for the delay and shoddy products, the state enterprise awarded the Italians another contracts to renovate their own software for another 9 million euro.
As the BANKER reported in its previous issue, the Ministry of Transport and Communications has started a check at the Air Traffic Control directorate. Minister Daniel Papazov said a general assessment of appointments in the company is being carried out to see if they meet the requirements, but said no person in particular was in consideration when launching the move.
The BANKER
