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The main objective of the research presented in the paper is to examine the impact of the COVID pandemic on the volume of passenger and freight traffic and the quality of the services provided by Sofia Airport, as well as to examine the factors influencing the demand for air freight transport and the extent of their impact. The authors focus on using two approaches, namely SERVPERF and SERVQUAL, in studying factors influencing the demand for transport. The study analyses a system of indicators with independent influences on the demand for air transport, but they are all related to the development of macroeconomic indicators at the national level under the influence of the COVID pandemic. The study of the impact of the pandemic on the service performance and quality of services provided by Sofia Airport allows us to predict the volume of transport activity and to plan the activities of airlines and ground operators, their transport capacity, as well as the need for adopting measures for recovery of the airport from the negative impacts of the pandemic and the necessary investments in airport facilities. The authors argue that evaluating the service performance and the quality of services could contribute to developing appropriate measures for recovery. They summarized appropriate measures based on the leading quality indicators for air transport services.  Keywords: Air Transport, Impact Assessment, COVID pandemic, Service Performance, Service Quality.

The most important goals for transport systems development in the European countries are related to increasing transport system efficiency and sustainability and pushing national economies’ competitiveness. After a thorough analysis of transport costs, a system of measures should be undertaken to achieve these goals. All these issues are on the top of the political agenda so far, considering the impacts of the COVID pandemic in recent years and the current developments of Just Transition and the European Green Deal ambitions. However, they could not be reached without accounting for transport’s social costs, especially external ones. The chapter’s main objective is to demonstrate the opportunities of the internalization approach and its updates for evaluating marginal external transport costs on a national level for South-Eastern European countries. As a result, a background will be provided to help policymakers in these counties to prioritize measures and projects envisaged in inland modes of transport based on potential savings for the society, which is not done so far. The chapter also discusses the effects of improving transport infrastructure functioning and performance by using internalization of external costs.

This paper aim is to explore the indicators and measures toward sustainable transportation system, with particular emphasis on the energy consumption and trends which prevent the achievement of policy objectives of reconciling the economic interests of the transport sector with energy constraints. Several arguments substantiated by empirical evidence from EU countries are put forward to demonstrate that current megatrends in transport are at odds with a sustainable development and lead to high social costs. A variety of policy strategies is discussed to improve the current threatening situation. The various paragraphs of this paper concentrate on the real problems which energy efficiency of transport present to policy-makers and assess the contribution that the analysis can make to handling more effectively recpective considerations in transport decision making. Previously, transport energy consumption concerns have been mainly restricted to local factors but recent concerns over the big dependence of the whole EU economy on the fossil fuels and of pollution-induced diseases have given importance to regional, national and global implications. The paper is to provide a general background against which the new research may be set. It does not aim either to be comprehensive in its treatment of all possible management strategies in transport or to provide answers of the questions that it or its paragraphs raise. It is hoped, however, that it may flag some of the key issues where uncertainty remains and where subsequent research could prove beneficial.