BULGARIA AIR

'Bulgaria Air' (Bulgarian name: 'България Ер') is the national airline carrier of Bulgaria, based in the capital, Sofia. It operates scheduled services to 13 countries in Western Europe, Czech Republic, Israel and Russia. Its main base is Sofia Airport.^[1]

Contents

History

Destinations

Fleet

External links

References

History

The airline was established in 2002 as a successor to the insolvent Balkan Bulgarian Airlines. By order of the Minister of Transportation and Communications it was declared the flag carrier in November 2002, starting operations on 4 December 2002. The name and logo were determined by a public competition^[2]. Bulgaria Air was privatized 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^[3]. Hemus Air reportedly paid Euro 6.6m and promised to invest a further Euro 86m over the next five years^[4]. It is seeking to acquire up to 15 new aircraft to expand activities in Bulgaria as a result ^[5].

Hemus Air was selected as the preferred bidder for the sale of Bulgaria Air by the Bulgarian government. Hemus and Bulgaria Air have already started codesharing on the Sofia-Berlin Tegel route and are expected to further coordinate their schedules and operations early in 2007.^[6]
Partners include KLM, Air France, Brussels Airlines, Czech Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Austrian Airlines, Alitalia , Air One & Aeroflot.

Destinations

Bulgaria Air operates scheduled services to the following destinations (August 2007) from its hub Sofia^[7]:

★ 'Albania'

★
★ Tirana ''(Tirana International Airport)''

★ 'Austria'

★
★ Vienna ''(Vienna International Airport)''

★ 'Belgium'

★
★ Brussels ''(Brussels International Airport)''

★ 'Bulgaria'

★
★ Bourgas ''(Bourgas Airport)''

★
★ Varna ''(Varna Airport)''


★ 'Cyprus'

★
★ Paphos ''(Paphos International Airport)'' (starts 6th September 2007)

★
★ Larnaca ''(Larnaca Airport)'' (starts 16th Septmeber 2007)

★ 'Czech Republic'

★
★ Prague ''(Ruzyne International Airport)''

★ 'France'

★
★ Paris ''(Charles de Gaulle International Airport)''

★ 'Germany'

★
★ Berlin ''(Tegel International Airport)''

★
★ Frankfurt ''(Frankfurt International Airport)''

★ 'Greece'

★
★ Athens ''(Athens International Airport)''

★ 'Israel'

★
★ Tel Aviv ''(Ben Gurion International Airport)''

★ 'Italy'

★
★ Rome ''(Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport)''

★ 'Lebanon'

★
★ Beirut ''(Rafic Hariri International Airport)''

★ 'Netherlands'

★
★ Amsterdam ''(Amsterdam Schiphol Airport)''

★ 'Romania'

★
★ Bucharest ''(Henri Coandă International Airport)''

★ 'Russia'

★
★ Moscow ''(Sheremetyevo International Airport)''

★ 'Spain'

★
★ Madrid ''(Madrid Barajas International Airport)''

★
★ Barcelona ''(Barcelona International Airport)''

★
★ Málaga ''(Málaga Airport)''

★
★ Palma de Mallorca ''(Palma de Mallorca Airport)''

★
★ Alicante ''(Alicante Airport)''

★ 'Switzerland'

★
★ Zurich ''(Zürich International Airport)''

★ 'United Arab Emirates'

★
★ Dubai ''(Dubai International Airport)''

★ 'United Kingdom'

★
★ London ''(London Heathrow Airport)''

★
★ London ''(London Gatwick Airport)''

★
★ Manchester ''(Manchester Airport)''
From Varna to:

★ 'Austria'

★
★ Vienna ''(Vienna International Airport)''

★ 'Bulgaria'

★
★ Sofia ''(Sofia Airport)''

★ 'Russia'

★
★ Moscow ''(Sheremetyevo International Airport)''

★
★ St. Petersburg ''(Pulkovo Airport)''

★ 'United Kingdom'

★
★ London ''(London Gatwick Airport)''
From Bourgas to:

★ 'Bulgaria'

★
★ Sofia ''(Sofia Airport)''

★ 'Russia'

★
★ St. Petersburg ''(Pulkovo Airport)''

Fleet

The Bulgaria Air fleet consists of the following aircraft (at August 2007) :

★ 6 Boeing 737-300

★ 1 Boeing 737-400

★ 3 Boeing 737-500

★ 3 BAe 146-200

★ 5 BAe 146-300

★ 2 ATR-42

External links

★ Official website

References

1. Flight International 27 March 2007
2. [1]
3. Sofia Echo
4. Sofia Echo
5. Airliner World January 2007
6. CH-Aviation 13 December 2006
7. [2]