"Bulgaria Air" AD
Bulgaria Air is a joint stock company and Bulgaria’s national carrier. Until February 14th, 2007, its sole owner was the state represented by the Ministry of Transport and afterwards the company became private. The owner of its share capital is Bulgarian Airways Group, while one of the shares with order № 1 (golden share) remains property of Bulgarian state.
The airlane is partner of a number of international companies and a winner of international quality certificates. Bulgaria Air is certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), it maintains the international safety certificate IOSA /IATA Operational Safety Audit/, is a member of the industry payment systems IATA Clearing House and BSP, 100% of the tickets issued are electronic tickets under the approved international standards, it participates in the framework contract for international recognition of vehicles documents IATA MITA, is certified Part-145, Part-M for technical maintenance of different types of aircraft and others.
Bulgaria Air AD carries out the following main activities:
- Scheduled domestic and international flights from Sofia, Varna and Bourgas to 27 destinations in Europe and the Middle East, as well as charter and business flights to more than 100 destinations.
Bulgaria Air operates scheduled flights to the capitals or major cities in Russia, Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus.
The company has signed code-share agreements and prorate agreements /SPA/ with airline companies such as Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, Czech Airlines, LOT, Olympic Air, Tarom and KLM, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Аir Serbia and others.
Together with its partners Bulgaria Air offers to its customers the opportunity to travel to more than 400 cities in Europe, Russia, Central and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North and South America.
- Charter flights – the company’s airplanes are rented throughout the year by large tour operators for transport of tourists to various destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Furthermore the company conducts ad-hoc charter flights – single flights for corporate and private clients; flights with AVRO RJ70 – a state of the art aircraft for business flights – the plane is produced and specially modified in the UK in accordance with the highest possible international standards. A number of celebrities from the music and film industry, as well as different world-renowned people, have already been convinced in its advantages.
- Foreign leasing – the company offers “wet” and “dry” lease of aircrafts for operation on seasonal and year-round programs to various airlines in Europe, the Middle East and Russia.
Product of the airline
The airline offers its partners and passengers full range of modern services both on the ground and on board during flight that constantly expands and improves:
- modern and comfortable aircrafts A319/320, Embraer E190 are the basis of the fleet;
- online ticketing;
- online registration for the flights of the airline – through the official website of the company;
- transport of cargo and mail – the company works with all registered speditors on the Bulgarian market and with selected partners from the foreign markets and performs cargo and mail transportation to all its destinations;
- on board sales – the airline offers the on board service called Sky Shop – sale of a wide range of products during flights within the EU and duty-free sales on flights to destinations outside the EU boundaries. Shopping onboard the Bulgaria Air’s airplanes is convenient and attractive for the passengers: the price does not include any duties when travelling to certain destinations /DF/, the items have been carefully selected and with guaranteed origin. Passengers can choose from different categories of products suitable for special gifts or for everyday use. Sky Shop offers a special service – the passengers can request a particular item in advance and be sure that the item will be delivered onboard of the aircraft and kept especially for them;
- aviation catering – the airline offers varied and quality catering and drinks during the flight to its clients both in business and economy class;
- access to the full information on the flight times and the services provided through the official website of the company, the own Call-center and all the cash-desks and offices of our partners;
- free press and informative on board magazine;
- and others.
Distribution network:
- Bulgaria Air distributes its product on the Bulgarian and international markets via tourist agencies and tour operators, through the branch network of Central Cooperative Bank Plc in Bulgaria, through the airline’s own Call Center, own sales offices and via its website www.air.bg
- the company works with more than 160 tourist agencies and tour operators in the country. The revenue on the Bulgarian market realized through agencies amounts to more than EUR 80 million. The annual revenue from direct sales through own offices in the country, the Call Center and online sales amounts to EUR 34 million. The market share on the Bulgarian market, which the company holds is 29%, whereas in terms of tickets sold it is 33%.
- the main priorities of the company in this area are to retain the existing market share and to improve the indicators for transported passengers and the average income rate per passenger, to increase the quantity, quality and throughput of the distribution channels.
Accompanying activities:
The airline is focused on its profile activity, but it aims to provide its clients with the best service in the aviation sector through close partnerships with leading international companies in the industry:
- the ground handing agent of Bulgaria Air is Swissport Bulgaria;
- the maintenance and technical service of all aircrafts are performed by Lufthansa Technik Sofia;
- the airline catering is provided by Silver Wings AD, a joint venture which uses the technologies and experience of companies such as Alfa Flight Group Ltd. and LSG Lufthansa Sky Chefs Europe Holdings Ltd.;
- the production for the on board sale will soon be provided by Nuance BG AD, a company created with the participation of Nuance Group AG (Switzerland);
- Bulgaria Air fulfilled its ambitious program for expansion and optimization of the business and operations. The company invested in fleet modernization and last generation technologies for more efficient management of commercial activities. The main objective was significant improvement in the quality of the transport service and the introduction of highest standards of service in economy and business class. The customers were offered the full range of products and services that other carriers offer, with comparable quality but better price. The main part of the investments were directed towards renewal of the existing air fleet with new aviation technique of Airbus and Embraer, which in 2012 completed the fleet of the national carrier with 4 brand new, especially manufactured E-190 aircrafts. This allowed the company to achieve better efficiency and to generally improve the quality of its services.
Fleet
Today, Bulgaria Air operates 10 modern aircrafts and has achieved average age of the fleet three years, which is one of the highest indicators in Europe.
Since 2007, the fleet of Boeing 737 Classic is gradually replaced by modern А319/20 aircrafts.
In 2012 Bulgaria Air launched a major program to improve flight safety and lower operating costs.
Within the optimization program in March 2012 was gradually introduced the exploitation of 4 Embraer E190 aircrafts with special configuration 108 seats (8 business / 100 economy class). In addition to the lighter fuselage, this is the aircraft with least harmful emissions in its segment, which directly reduces fuel costs and flight and landing fees. Its innovative design offers more space and comfort to the passengers. The optimum dimensions and characteristics of the machine allow the national carrier to realize strategy for development of new destinations and increase the flights’ frequencies on existing destinations.
Modern technologies
The airline relies on advanced technologies for the management and increasing the efficiency of operations. In Bulgaria Air are used specially selected software solutions of leading companies in the aviation sector:
- modern revenue management system of SABRE system (AirMax Revenue Management System);
- proven revenue control system MonaLisa;
- one of the most modern and comfortable inverter and reservation systems – AMADEUS, with modern integrated platform for online sales and online registration and module for loyal passengers;
- high-performance software for flight program planning and technical maintenance of Lufthansa Systems;
- and others.
In place is a management strategy for fast-paced expansion of the commercial activity and penetration of new markets through increase of the flight network, higher frequency of operations and attraction of new customers by means of exclusive offers for direct and transfer flights, depending on the specifics of each particular market.
Contact information:
1574 Sofia, bul. Brussels 1
phone: +359 2 40 20 400