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| Founded | 1947/1968 | |||
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| Ceased operations | 2002 | |||
| Hubs | Sofia Airport | |||
| Secondary hubs | Varna Airport, Burgas Airport, Plovdiv Airport | |||
| Fleet size | 150+ during operations | |||
| Destinations | worldwide | |||
| Headquarters | Sofia, Bulgaria | |||
Balkan Airlines (Bulg.: Балкан) was Bulgaria's government-owned flag carrier between 1947 and 2002. During the 1970s the airliner became a significant European carrier. The company encountered financial instability following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. Despite managing to continue operations, following the turn of the millennium and a controversial privatisation it declared bankruptcy in 2002. A newly formed successor, Bulgaria Air, became the Bulgarian flag carrier in 2003.
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Bulgaria had a short-lived airline (Bunavad) in 1927, yet the country was too poor to afford investing in modern air transport until after World War II. In 1946, the Ministry of Transport and Communications formed an Administration of Air Communications (Дирекция на въздушните съобщения [ДВС] or Direkcia na vazdushnite saobshtenia [DVS]). Since Bulgaria was regarded as a combatant on the defeated Axis side, the DVS could only contract with France for the supply of several Atelier d'Avions Coulombe Toucan aircraft (AAC Toucans or French-built Junkers Ju 52/3ms). Pending their delivery, Bulgarian airmen flew the nation's first longer air services: several government flights to the peace negotiations in Paris. These flights used German-built Ju 52 aircraft (Bulgarian service designation Сова or Sova, = Owl), delivered before the war to the На Негово Величество Въздушни войски [НВВВ] or His majesty's Air Force, and captured during the war from retreating German forces.
DVS officially launched services under the Bulgarian Air Lines (Български въздушни линии or Balgarski vazdushni linii) name on 29 June 1947 with a Ju 52 flight from Sofia via Plovdiv to Burgas. Other services soon followed. By the close of the year, the DVS had ordered several Soviet-built DC-3s (Lisunov Li-2s) and at least 13 were operated until 1968.[1] The Soviet forces stationed in Bulgaria took an interest in the DVS and by late 1947 took it into joint ownership as they had done with all airlines of former Axis East-European countries. The resulting airline was called ТАБСО or TABSO: Транспортно-авиационно българо-съветско обединение or "Transportno-aviacionno balgaro-savetsko obedinenie" (the Bulgarian-Soviet Transport Aviation Corporation). The Ju 52s gradually faded from the scene as TABSO re-equipped with Li-2s. These more modern machines allowed the airline or expand services.
Soviet equity in TABSO (Transport-Aviation Bulgarian-Soviet Society - ТАБСО - Транспортно-авиационно българо-съветско общество)was reacquired by the Bulgarian government in 1954 as part of the Soviet forces' withdrawal from Bulgaria. The airline with this brand name survived until the end of 1967, often in the shadow of the headline phrase Bulgarian Air Transport. In 1956, Tabso bought its first Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft. In 1962, it began services with the Ilyushin Il-18, alongside the expansion of Bulgaria's inclusive-tour tourism industry, began to put the airline's name on the European and world map. The turboprop type overflew the Equator to Kenya and the Atlantic to Peru. By 1967, An-24s had arrived for domestic and regional flights.
By the mid-60s tourism was a major hard currency earner for Bulgaria and Tabso faced home-grown competition. Executives of the Teksim trading company had decided to start their own aviation business which included crop-spraying and inclusive-tour charter airline operations under the name of Булер or Bulair. Despite trying to buy Sud Aviation Caravelles, they ended up buying more Il-18s under heavy Soviet and Bulgarian political pressure. The Teksim venture proved a success and a thorn in the side of Tabso. By 1967, Tabso had the inside track in government circles, and the Teksim operation was largely disbanded by 1970. Amid rumours of scandal and embezzling, several Teksim directors were sent to jail, accused of performing capitalism-ruled economic behaviour. Their venture had operated under the Tabso banner for reasons of expediency (not least international rights). The last Bulair-branded aircraft had been rebranded as Tabso machines by 1972.
On 1 January 1968, Tabso was rebranded Balkan Bulgarian Airlines (Български въздушни линии "Балкан" or Bulgarski vazdushni linii "Balkan"). The wider commercial aviation scene was put under Balkan's control via subsidiaries such as the aforementioned Bulair, Селскостопанска авиация [ССА] or Selskostopanska aviacia [SSA] (the Agricultural Aviation Company) and a separate profit centre which performed ad-hoc aviation contracting, mostly with helicopters.
The jet age arrived at Balkan in late August 1968 with Tu-134 aircraft. The airline was the first outside the USSR to put the type into operation. This led to a close association with the Tupolev design bureau lasting two decades. There were several reasons why Bulgaria was allowed to put a new Soviet type into service ahead of more important Soviet-bloc nations. Andrei Tupolev was President of the Soviet-Bulgarian Society. He had cemented personal links with his Bulgarian counterpart, formidable wartime Resistance figure and Politburo member Tsola Dragoycheva. She lobbied him for delivery preferences in return for campaigning before the Bulgarian authorities to buy his products rather than Western or other Soviet ones. Indeed, Balkan never bought Ilyushin's Il-62 long-range airliner, preferring to misuse its Tu-154s for long-range work. Similarly, it eschewed Ilyushin's Il-86 wide-body despite arguably having the precise role for it on its sea or ski charter flights.
As part of its Tupolev association, in 1971 Balkan was the first foreign airline of the stretched Tu-134A. In 1972, the airline was the launch export customer of the Tu-154. It also launched non-Soviet use of the Tu-154A, Tu-154B, Tu-154B-2 and Tu-154M. Balkan was a useful test-bed for new ideas by the Tupolev bureau. The airline pioneered the use of three-person flightdeck crews on the Tu-154 by removing navigators (flight crew members whom the designers had intentionally inserted into the Tu-134 and Tu-154) between 1972 and 1976. Balkan also removed the Tu-154's concrete ballast trim on which conservative Tupolev engineers had insisted. In the mid 1980s, a team of Bulgarian engineers interlinked the automatic flight control systems of the airline's Tu-154s with Omega OMEGA Navigation System receivers, enabling very accurate automatic long-range overwater navigation. In the 90s, Balkan was among the first to fit GPS navigation to its Tu-154 fleet. A Tu-154B was flown non-stop from Montreal to Sofia, a distance of over 7,000 km (4,300 mi) and a record for the type, during a charter flight.
As the Soviet-bloc economies gradually entered into stagnation in the 1970s, Balkan continued growing apace. By the mid/late 70s, it was carrying three million passengers a year: more than any Soviet-bloc airline other than some Directorates of Aeroflot. The fleet comprised aforementioned types plus An-12s for cargo (since late 1969) and Yak-40 regional jets for short-haul routes (since 1974). The comprehensive route system covered Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. With the delivery of more and more Tu-154s, Balkan opened longer-range routes, including ones to Zimbabwe, Angola and Nigeria in sub-Equatorial Africa, and to Sri Lanka and Vietnam in Southern Asia.
In 1986, Balkan was restructured as part of a wholesale shakeup of the late Socialist economy in an attempt to make it more productive and manageable. The airline was divorced from functions such as running airports. It had suffered disastrous traffic falls after the Comecon fuel crisis of 1979, when the number of passengers carried collapsed to under a million. By the late 80s, loads were back up to 70s levels. Of the three million annual passengers, a third were carried on domestic services, another third on charter flights, and the remaining million on scheduled international routes.
On 10 November 1989, Bulgaria's long-ruling leader Todor Zhivkov was removed from power and Bulgaria began moving away from the Soviet bloc. Within a year, Balkan had been restructured yet again, with Hemus Air emerging from within it as a "second force" state-owned airline with mainly domestic and regional flights. Private airlines began to appear, most important among them Singapore-backed Jes Air which launched services to New York and Singapore using A310s.
By mid-1991, Balkan had leased two Boeing 767-200ERs from Air France to compete with failing JES Air on North American and Southern Asian routes. At the same time Balkan acquired four V2500-powered A320s from Oryx. The Soviet-build types remained in service alongside the new arrivals.
The 1990s were a time of headlong decline at Balkan. The airline suffered by the transition to a market economy. Former managers of state-owned industry began forming private companies to supply the industries they had once managed (at high prices), and yet other private companies to purchase their production (at low prices). The aim was to control both supply and sales, charging high prices and paying low prices to strangulate state companies and privatise them at very low prices. The entire Bulgarian economy was in deep recession. This was due to severe political instability at home and protracted wars in neighbouring Yugoslavia. These factors upset potential investment and tourism and cut off Bulgaria from many trading partners. (Since the Yugoslav wars between 1991 and 1996 tended to be called "Balkan Wars" in media coverage, the Balkan brand name suffered significant public damage, despite Bulgaria's remoteness from Yugoslav affairs.)
By 1998 Balkan's 767s returned to Air France and the A320s were passed on to other lessees. The Tu-154B fleet was overdue for replacement, and the Tu-154M was aging. Bulgaria's government appeared to pledge some funds for A310 acquisition so that long-range services could be sustained, but nothing came of this. Meanwhile, privatisation offers were made, long after the once-proud Balkan name had lost appeal.
Throughout the 90s, there had been rumours of investor interest in Balkan. The rumours consistently named Russian and German airline interests which were said to be eager to buy the airline. There was also lobbying by the airline's managers for a management buyout. In a late-1999 Balkan was acquired by a consortium comprising the Dutch branch of Israel's Zeevi Group and Israel's Arkia airline for some 200,000 US dollars. Zeevi was not a name known within aviation circles, while Arkia left the consortium once title in the airline was transferred. There was speculation that Zeevi, active in the construction industry, wanted Balkan as an entry into the refurbishment of Bulgaria's international airports.
Because of the Israeli connection, Balkan lost its traditionally lucrative Arab routes at a stroke. Its assets seemed to be being sold-off in an asset-stripping manner. By early 2001, Balkan's fleet was not even up to the task of meeting the airline's summer charter commitments, despite taking on some used 737-300s. After a short service break in early 2001, Balkan halted all services for a long period just as the peak summer season approached, declaring insolvency. Zeevi management left to begin a complex lawsuit against the Bulgarian government whom they claimed had sold them an inoperable company.
In fact, over time Zeevi did develop a cogent business vision for Balkan: to sever links with the overstaffed Soviet-equipped past and make the airline a compact, profitable 737-equipped carrier. Zeevi appeared to exhibit managerial incompetence and encountered serious staff and government resistance on top of the foreseeable misfortune of losing Balkan's lucrative Arab routes.
Meanwhile, the government installed receivers to run the company. Short of cash, in 2002 they sold Balkan's valuable six weekly slots for Heathrow airport to British Airways for six million dollars. This caused a major outcry in Bulgaria and ultimately resulted in Balkan's final closure in October that year. By then, nothing of genuine value had been left to sell other than the much-tarnished Balkan name.
Balkan was succeeded as national carrier by newly formed Bulgaria Air. Although the new airline was briefly known as Balkan Air Tour, and although it succeeded as lessee of several Balkan Boeing 737s, it has nothing in common with the former national carrier.
Until 1990 Balkan's signs were carried both by normal airliners and special government detachment, agricultural aviation, sanitary wings, cargo planes. Here follows the fleet except An-2 /281 pieces/ and Ка-26, as well as civil Мi-8s /17 pieces/, Mi-17 /1 piece/, Mi-2, training L-410s.
| Aircraft | Number in fleet | Passenger capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Аn-14 | ? | 7-9 |
| Аn-24 | 20 | 44 |
| Il-14 | ? | 32 |
| Il-18 | 22 | 120 |
| Ju-52 | ? | 21 |
| Li-2 | ? | 24 |
| Тu-134А/B | 20 | 68 |
| Tu-154А/B/М | 40 | 141-167 |
| Yak-40 | 18 | 27-36 |
| Аn-12 | 8 | cargo |
| Airbus A320 - after 1991 | 4 | 162 |
| Boeing 737-300 | ? | ? |
| Boeing 737-500 - after 1991 | 3 | 116 |
| Boeing 767-200ER - after 1991 | 2 | 247 |
| TOTAL: | 125+ |
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