BH Air Ltd. () is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n registered

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. Part owned by Balkan Holidays Services based in Sofia, not Balkan Holidays Ltd, the Tour Operator based in London. BH Air provides charter flights to tour operators in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and other European countries, as well as ad hoc charters to other destinations. Also, flights to Africa, Asia, and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

are operated for groups traveling in connection with cultural and sports events and on business. The airline's main base is Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, with secondary ones at

Burgas Airport Burgas Airport is an international airport in southeast Bulgaria and the second largest in the country. It is near the northern neighbourhood of Sarafovo approximately from the city centre. The airport principally serves Burgas and other seas ...

, Varna Airport and Plovdiv International Airport.

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

27 March 2007

History

BH Air was founded in 2001 and began operations in January 2002 with charter flights to

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...

and Varna under contract from the UK tour operator "Balkan Holidays Ltd" (No Connection with BH Air). The airline began to fly with a single Tupolev Tu-154M, and the number of aircraft increased to four a few months later. In the summer of 2003 its first

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

was put into operation. Later, the airline leased three more Airbus A320s, and the fleet increased to eight aircraft - four Tu-154Ms and four A320s. In 2004 the airline begin to perform charter flights for Balkan Holidays, Kuoni, TUI and a large number of smaller tour operators. For 2004 BH Air transported around 400,000 passengers to and from Bulgaria. In 2005, BH Air signed a two-year contract for a wet lease with

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding compa ...

. This led to the creation of a new airline in Nigeria - Virgin Nigeria. BH Air aircraft also operated for Air Arabia and Pacific Airlines. In 2006, the airline retired its Tu-154s. In 2007, after the work with Virgin Group and gaining experience, BH Air participated in the creation of a new airline in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Mihin Lanka Mihin Lanka was a Low-cost carrier, low-fare leisure airline based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was owned by the Sri Lankan government. The airline operated scheduled flights from its hub at Bandaranaike International Airport to a number of cities in ...

. The company also operated private business flights with one Gulfstream G550 and one Gulfstream G200. The aircraft are operated mainly for First Investment Bank as private jets. On 17 January 2013 the company was granted an exemption from the United States of America Department of Transportation (DoT) for flights to USA specifically to New York City (JFK) and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

(ORD) as the company requested in its application to DoT in November 2012. In July 2014, the airline took delivery of its first Airbus A330-223 (LZ-AWA). The aircraft are used for direct long-haul flights from

to cities in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. BH Air also uses the aircraft on busy routes during the summer months to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and other European destinations. As of 2015, BH Air has over 250 employees, of which more than 40 are pilots and 100 are cabin crew. In March 2015 they formed a strategic alliance with SkyGreece Airlines. The aim of this strategic alliance is to strengthen their role in the Balkans. As part of this partnership, BH Air began operating flights between

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and New York-JFK on behalf of SkyGreece Airlines on 30 June 2015. However, only a month after inaugurating the route, SkyGreece announced it would be suspending services to New York on 1 September 2015.

Destinations

BH Air operated charter flights from the UK during Winter seasons to Vasil Levski Sofia Airport (contract finished in April 2015) but to date continues with the Summer seasons to

and Varna Airport. In August 2015 the company flew from Athens Airport to New York City on behalf of SkyGreece Airlines. It was planned but never started, that the company would start flying to

as well. They also had plans also to start regular flights to

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

and

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

after they were chosen by the Bulgarian government to operate the two routes.

Fleet

Current fleet

As of October 2022, BH Air operates the following aircraft:

Historical fleet

BH Air also used to operate the following aircraft which have meanwhile been phased out: * Airbus A319-100 * Airbus A321-200 * Airbus A330-200 * Tupolev Tu-154M The company also used to operate private business flights with one Gulfstream G200 under the brand ''BH VIP''.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bh Air Airlines of Bulgaria Airlines established in 2001 Charter airlines Bulgarian companies established in 2001