Bulgaria is Ready to Sign “Open Sky”
Bulgarian aviation authorities are beginning to carry out sudden checks of foreign airplanes, landing in Bulgaria. No such practice has been employed so far. Its purpose is to monitor the safety of the airplanes, the way it’s being done in a number of European airports. An airline company will also be checked whether it has been legally registered, whether the airplane has been entered in the respective register, etc.
Bulgarian Aviation invested in 2003 over EUR 15 million in enhancing the safety of the flights, above all for new safety systems on the Russian airplanes. That was as a result of the decision of the West-European airports (with more than 2 million passengers a year) to impose quotas on the landing of some models of Russian airplanes. Such measure would impede the summer charter programs for Bulgaria. More than 200 flights will connect every week during the summer period the Black Sea cities of Varna and Burgas with the German airports.
The Bulgarian airlines will buy or hire 14 airplanes until the end of 2004, four of which are going to be for the national carrier Bulgaria Air.В They will most probably be Boeing 737. Another carrier Hemus Air is going to receive by the end of January the first one of the three ordered planes BAE-146. Viaggio Air is already flying with new ATR 42-300. No investments will be made in airplanes with more than 10 years of service. This is a part of the Government’s policy for modernization of all the transport means in every kind of transport in the country. In 2003, the private transport companies invested in excess of EUR 100 million to buy new T.I.R. trucks for international transport, complying with the international ecological standard EURO3. The Bulgarian State Railways are going to buy 2 new high-speed trains.
Rejuvenation is about to take place with the sea ships and the river ships. Such policy of the Government aims to render the Bulgarian transport competitive to the European transport prior to Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in 2007. Bulgaria is going to sign the European initiative “Open Sky” this year. Thus all the airway companies that want to do so, will carry out regular flights to the country.
A few low-cost companies have already displayed interest in flights to Bulgaria. The first one about to enter the Bulgarian market, is the small German company Bexx Air, which is planning its first flight on 19 March. It will link by regular charter flights Sofia with five German cities at prices of EUR 89-99 in both directions, with no airport charges (which amount to EUR 14-21). Such price is lower than the price of the bus tickets between the two countries. Almost all cheap tickets have already been sold or booked. Flights are being planned also to Vienna and Zurich. A charter program will begin in the summer to the seaside resorts of Varna and Burgas of the largest low-cost company in Europe Irish Ryanair. It is going to transport tourists from the UK. The low-cost companies will effectively reduce the occupation and the profits of the regular lines, among which are the Bulgarian airlines, the Polish LOT, the German Lufthansa, the Hungarian Malev and the Austrian Airlines.
The Bulgarian airlines are seeking support from the Government by means of the introduction of restrictions on the charter flights, but the probability for them to achieve it is slim, in that the country is bound to open its market.
The only condition now for an airline company to carry out charter flights to Bulgaria is to have a contract signed with the respective airport. The already signed bilateral agreements between the single countries and Bulgaria will be used until the “Open Air” agreement has been signed. 90 percent of the charter flights to Bulgaria were carried out until 1990 by Bulgarian carriers. Their share amounts nowadays to 50 percent. The larger carriers and the incessantly appearing new low-cost companies will be able to fly wherever they want, competition will undoubtedly rise. Some airway companies will lose, but it is under no dispute that the passengers will gain.
By Plamen Starev
eturbonews.com
Travelvideo.tv – your news source for the travel and tourism industry.
January 21, 2004
Posted in: Bulgaria