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Bulgaria Air

IATA FB ICAO LZB Callsign FLYING BULGARIA
Founded	2002
Bases	Sofia Airport
Focus cities	Burgas Airport Varna Airport
Frequent flyer program	FlyFB Bonus Points
Member lounge	Business Lounge Sofia VIP Lounge Sofia
Subsidiaries	Hemus Air
Fleet size	19
Destinations	22
Parent company	TIM Group Balkan Hemus Group AG
Headquarters	Sofia, Bulgaria
Key people	Dimitar Pavlov (CEO) Grisha Jenkov (Commercial Director)
Website	www.air.bg

Bulgaria Air (Bulgarian name: България Ер) is the flag carrier airline of Bulgaria, based in the capital, Sofia. The company is owned by Himimport Inc. In 2008, according to the company's Annual Report, Bulgaria Air had 118,543 passengers, had a revenue of 434 million levs and earnings of 470,000 levs.^[1] Bulgaria Air is a leader in terms of market share. As of January 2010, the fleet of the company is 19, serving 22 destinations in 16 countries.

History

Company

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 €6.6m and promised to invest a further €86m over the next five years.^[4] Since then all flights of Hemus Air and its subsidiary Viaggio Air are under the Bulgaria Air IATA code FB. It is seeking to acquire up to 15 new aircraft to expand activities in Bulgaria as a result.^[5] Among these new aircraft will be at least one capable of a trans-Atlantic flight to get the company moving and to open inter-continental routes.

On 20 November 2008, Bulgaria Air became a full member of IATA.^[6]

Logo

Oldest Logo (2002-2006)

Old Logo (2006-2009)

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 of 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 is still being used today and a Cyrillic version has recently been created which will replace the English titles on one side of the planes.

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

Bulgaria Air has codeshare agreements with^[7]

Private Business Flights

LZ-TIM performing a private flight

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. ^[8]

Fleet

Interior of a Bulgaria Air Airbus

Bulgaria Air Airbus A319-100 takes off from London Heathrow Airport, England (2008)

Bulgaria Air operates the following aircraft (at 1 October 2009):^[9][10]

References

External links

• Official website

Airlines of Bulgaria Air Sofia · Air Via · Balkan Bulgarian Airlines · BH Air · Bulgaria Air · Bulgarian Air Charter · Bunavad · Cargoair · Heli Air · Hemus Air · Inter Trans Air · Viaggio Air · Wizz Air Bulgaria