Bulgaria Air

Bulgaria Air (Bulgarian: България Ер), is the flag carrier airline of Bulgaria, with its head office on the grounds of Sofia Airport in Sofia. The company is owned by Chimimport Inc and is a leader in terms of market share. In 2008, according to the company's Annual Report, Bulgaria Air had 1,185,430 passengers. Bulgaria Air’s fleet consists of 18 of the most popular and modern aircraft, designed for short and middle range flights.

History

Company

The airline was established in 2002 as a successor to the insolvent Balkan Bulgarian Airlines. By order of the Minister of Transport and Communications it was declared the national flag carrier in November 2002, starting operations on the 4th of December, 2002. The name and initial logo were determined by a public competition. Bulgaria Air was privatised in 2006; although it was rumoured that the government wanted to sell the carrier to a major foreign investor, a union of locally-owned companies, led by Hemus Air, emerged as the buyer with Italian Air One being the only other contender. Hemus Air reportedly paid €6.6m and promised to invest a further €86m over the next five years. Since then all flights and operations of Hemus Air and its subsidiary Viaggio Air are under name and management of the merged company, Bulgaria Air.

On 20 November 2008, Bulgaria Air became a full member of IATA.

2010–present

Bulgaria Air initially began operations by the name of "Balkan Air Tour." The airline was known by that name for a short period of time; in November 2002, public contests were held in Bulgaria to determine a name and logo for the new airline. Thousands of people showed their creativity and voiced their opinions and after searching through countless submissions, the name and logo were chosen. The design was used for about 4 years, until 2006, when an improved, more professional design was created. That logo design was used into early 2010 and a Cyrillic version was even created which was to replace the English titles on one side of the planes. However, after the full fleet merge of Hemus Air and Viaggio Air, a new livery had to once again be developed. After some leaked photos of a new design surfaced in online forums, they were met with public distaste and critique. This seemingly sent the designers back into development and postponed the new livery's release even further. Finally, in mid-2010, the first Bulgaria Air Airbus A319 was rolled out wearing the finalised colour scheme.

Destinations

A Bulgaria Air Airbus A320 at Sofia International Airport, Bulgaria. (2010)

Bulgaria Air Airbus A319 LZ-FBB in the new 2010 livery landing at London Heathrow Airport

Main article: Bulgaria Air destinations

Bulgaria Air operates 27 routes from Sofia Airport, including two domestic routes to Bourgas and Varna.

Codeshare agreements

Bulgaria Air has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Aeroflot (SkyTeam)

Aerosvit

Air France (SkyTeam)

Alitalia (SkyTeam)

Austrian Airlines (Star Alliance)

Czech Airlines (SkyTeam)

Iberia (Oneworld)

KLM (SkyTeam)

LOT Polish Airlines (Star Alliance)

MALÉV Hungarian Airlines (Oneworld)

TAROM (SkyTeam)

Charter flights

Bulgaria Air charter destinations

Bulgaria Air enjoys the reputation of a reliable partner in organising and performing ad-hoc charter flights and charter chains in many countries all over the world. Currently the company serves over 60 leading tour operators, air transportation brokers, airlines and other companies of the aviation and tourist industries, performing charter flights to over 80 destinations in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Fleet

Bulgaria Air Fleet

Aircraft Total Orders Passengers Notes

C Y Total

Airbus A319 3 0 — 144 144

Airbus A320-214 3 0 — 180 180

Avro RJ70 1 0 26 VIP private and VIP charters

BAe 146-200 3 0 8 76 84

BAe 146-300 3 0 — 110 110

Boeing 737-300 3 0 — 148 148 To be retired

Private business flights

Thanks to Bulgaria Air’s new Avro RJ70 Business Jet, starting in 2009, the company offers new service to its clients – booking a luxury flight with a custom schedule for their business trip. The passenger compartment of the new plane is equipped with 26 armchairs, couches, dining tables and multiple LCD displays, as well as on-board Wi-Fi Internet access.

(source:wikipedia)