Bulgaria Creates New Flag Carrier

Bulgaria Creates New Flag Carrier:

Bulgaria intends to launch a new national airline next month after the final collapse last month of its troubled flag carrier Balkan Bulgarian.

Its successor is to be Balkan Air Tour which has been established by the Bulgarian government and is scheduled to start operations on December 1, according to a Flight International report.

The tour operator, which is based in Sofia, will acquire the assets of Balkan Bulgarian but not the debts of BGL180 million (USD$92 million) which led to its liquidation. Initial finance for the new venture will come from the government which, says the industry publication, intends to sell off 50 percent of the airline to private investors.

Doubts over the time scale of the launch have been expressed by Balkan Bulgarian administrator Olga Milenkova. She also said that state funding of BGL10-30 million was “insufficient.”

Balkan Bulgarian’s troubles started in February 2001 when it stopped flying. It resumed limited services while under administration, but last month the airline’s biggest creditors sounded its death knell when they rejected a recovery plan.

Balkan Air Tour will operate services to seven destinations – Berlin and Frankfurt, in Germany; London, Milan, Moscow, Paris and Tel Aviv.