Bulgaria Air

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Bulgaria Air
IATA
FB		 ICAO
LZB		 Callsign
FLYING BULGARIAN
Founded 2002
Hubs Sofia International Airport
Varna Airport
Frequent flyer program Frequent Flyer
Fleet size 20 (+2 orders)
Destinations 34 (21 Countries)
Parent company Balkan Hemus Group AG
Headquarters Sofia, Bulgaria
Key people Dimitar Pavlov - CEO
Website: http://www.air.bg

Bulgaria Air (Bulgarian name: България Ер) is the national airline carrier of Bulgaria, based in the capital, Sofia. It operates scheduled services to 21 countries in Western Europe, Czech Republic, Israel and Russia. Its main base is Sofia Airport.[1]

Contents

[edit] 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 6.6 m and promised to invest a further Euro 86 m over the next five years[4]. It is seeking since last year to acquire up to 15 new aircraft to expand activities in Bulgaria as a result [5].

Boeing 737-500 in superseded colours
Boeing 737-500 in superseded colours
Boeing 737-300
Boeing 737-300

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, El Al, LOT Polish Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Austrian Airlines, Alitalia, Air One & Aeroflot.

[edit] Destinations

Bulgaria Air operates scheduled services to the following destinations (May 2008) from its hub Sofia[7]:

Boeing 737-300
Boeing 737-300

From Varna to:

From Burgas to:

[edit] Previous Destinations

[edit] Fleet

The Bulgaria Air fleet consists of the following aircraft (at May 2008):

As of 3 June 2008, the average age of the Bulgaria Air fleet is 17.8 years ([1]).

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Flight International 27 March 2007
  2. ^ Air.bg - Travel with pleasure all over the world!
  3. ^ Sofia Echo
  4. ^ Sofia Echo
  5. ^ Airliner World April 2008
  6. ^ CH-Aviation 13 December 2006
  7. ^ Air.bg - Travel with pleasure all over the world!
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