The Bulgarian Aviation in the XXI Century
The 27th of June 1947 is the beginning of the Bulgarian civil
aviation when has been made the first regular passenger flight
between Sofia and Bourgas, folded by years of fast development.
The economical and political relationships with the Soviet Union
made possible that the national airline "TABSO", then "BALKAN",
could fly with the newest airplanes of the soviet air industry.
Those are the "golden years" of the Bulgarian civil aviation.
The economical stability of the Bulgarian people made the air
transport one of the most popular transports. But after the
changes in 1989 came the sunset of the Bulgarian civil aviation.
The dramatic nosedive of passengers, the big prices of the oil
were fatal for the Bulgarian aviation. The attempts to build
private airlines were absolute failure. Typical example is the
first private airline in Bulgaria - "Jes air". The attempts to
reanimate the public airline BALKAN by privatization led to her
failure.
But more important is the condition of the Bulgarian aviation
today. It is not so black as it seems to be. The new public
airline Bulgaria air slowly but effectively is taking her
position in those business and is making her destination network
bigger and bigger. The exploitation of new airplanes from West
Europe and America instead of the old Russian increases the
company image and the quality of the service. This is an
important precondition for attracting passengers and
successfully rivalry vs. the other operators. It is not a secret
that in this moment the most important for the Bulgarian
economic is the charter business. The lots of Bulgarian charter
operators are taking care of the transportation of the foreign
tourists to the Black Sea coast in the summer season and to the
mountain resorts in the winter. For successfully rivalry those
operators have very high quality of service.
In spite of all the problems are not little. The biggest one is
with the percentage of the transported passengers. In the recent
years man can see one bad tendency - the number of the
transported passengers by foreign airlines is growing dramatic.
Other problem is the old airplane park (recently solved for a
little by the leasing taking of 6 to 7 Boeings and Airbuses).
The chronic insufficiency of money and the absence of state help
are the main reason for the bad rivalry of the Bulgarian charter
operators.
To solve these problems, in 2001 is created the Bulgarian
Airlines Association (ABA). Its main aim is to protect the
interests of the Bulgarian operators in front of the government
and to fight for their consolidation.
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