Preface of the 17th International Scientific Conference on Aeronautics, Automotive, and Railway Engineering and Technologies (BulTrans-2025) ^†

The BulTrans International Scientific Conference on Aeronautics, Automotive, and Railway Engineering and Technologies is organized by the Faculty of Transport, Technical University of Sofia. It has been held annually since 2009 as part of a group of conferences collectively called the “Science Days of Technical University of Sofia”. It is the most prestigious scientific forum for road, rail, and air transport in Bulgaria. The seventeenth issue of the conference, BulTrans-2025, was held in Sozopol at the Summer Holiday House of Technical University of Sofia on the 10–13 September 2025.

The conference program included a plenary session and six thematic sessions:

• Aeronautics and Astronautics;
• Dynamics, Strength and Reliability in Transport;
• Railway Engineering and Technologies;
• Automotive Engineering and Technologies;
• Internal Combustion Engines and Alternative Fuels;
• Transport Management and Logistics.

The presentations of both on-site and online participants were displayed in the main conference hall (Figure 1), where the chairpersons of all sections were also present in person. Meanwhile some participants, including ten presenting authors, joined online. The duration of the plenary lectures was 30 min and that of the thematic oral presentations was 15 min, followed by question and answer sessions.

Four plenary lectures were delivered, addressing the conference themes and beyond:

• Prof. Fawaz Massouh, LIFSE, Arts et Métiers-Paris, Paris, France started with a “Global Energy Consumption Overview, with a Focus on the Transport Sector”.
• The Chief Operating and Services Officer, Vassil Levski Airport—Sofia, Juan Ramon Matas, presented a talk on “The Transformation Challenges of Airports”.
• Dr. Evgeni D. Ganev (CEO, Electromechanical Power Systems Consulting, USA) gave a talk on “Aerospace and Automotive Electrified Designs—Progression and Mutual Benefits”.
• The “Brief History and Technological Equipment of BMF Port Burgas” showcase by Svetlin Zhelyazkov (Technical Consultant, Andrey Stamov, Head of Vocational Training Center, BMF Port Burgas) excited participants with unique images of giant port equipment.

In total, 83 participants and guests attended Bultrans-2025. Of the attendees, 10 participated online, 45 were from Bulgaria, and 20 came from abroad (Turkey—4; Slovakia—4; France—4; Egypt—2; Romania—2; Iran—2; Germany—1; USA—1). There were also social events in addition to the scientific part of the program (Figure 2).

Accepted papers were subject to preliminary and follow-up review by a member of the scientific editorial board and peer-review by invited reviewers. The number of reviewers of the reports qualified for MDPI Engineering Proceedings was 29, of which 20 reviewers were from Bulgaria and 9 reviewers were from abroad (Iran—4; Slovakia—3; France—1; India—1). Paper improvements and potential on-site discussions were encouraged. The review process and all communication between participants and organizers were conducted through the web-based conference management system at process.bultrans.org. Members of the Organizing Committee, scientific editorial board, and session chairpersons are listed below:

Organizing Committee

Chairman: Assoc. Prof. K. Nedelchev, PhD, Dean, Faculty of Transport, TU-Sofia.

Vice-Chairman: Assoc. Prof. K. Georgiev, PhD, Vice-Dean, Faculty of Transport.

Secretariat: Assoc. Prof. N. Pavlov, PhD; Eng. Elena Pavlova, MSc; Eng. Philip Michaylov, MSc.

Scientific editorial board

Prof. S. Stoilova, DSc—Editor-in-Chief (Transport Management and Logistics).

Assoc. Prof. K. Georgiev, PhD—Vice-Editor-in-Chief (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Prof. F. Massouh, PhD—ENSAM, France (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Prof. V. Stoilov, PhD (Railway Engineering and Technologies).

Prof. I. Kralov, DSc (Dynamics, Strength and Reliability in Transport).

Prof. M. Todorov, PhD (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Assoc. Prof. N. Nikolov, PhD (Dynamics, Strength and Reliability in Transport).

Assoc. Prof. N. Pavlov, PhD (Automotive Engineering and Technologies, Internal Combustion Engines and Alternative Fuels).

Session chairpersons

Prof. Fawaz Massouh, France (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Prof. Jafar Roshanian, Iran (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Prof. Michael Todorov (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Assoc. Prof. Vladimir Serbezov (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Assoc. Prof. Krasin Georgiev (Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Nikolov (Dynamics, Strength and Reliability in Transport).

Assoc. Prof. Svetoslav Slavchev (Railway Engineering and Technologies).

Assoc. Prof. P. Punov (Internal Combustion Engines and Alternative Fuels).

Assoc. Prof. N. Pavlov (Automotive Engineering and Technologies).

Prof. Oleksandr Kravchenko, Slovakia (Transport Management and Logistics).

We would like to thank the reviewers for their time and advice, and the authors for taking into account the reviewers’ recommendations and improving the quality of the papers selected for publication in this volume. We would also like to thank all other conference participants and guests for their support of BulTrans-2025.

Special thank go to the sponsors that have made a significant contribution to the realization of the event: the Research and Development Sector at the Technical University of Sofia, Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA), and the operator of Sofia airport—SOF Connect AD (Figure 3).