Bulgaria Air (FB, Sofia) is in talks with "at least two providers" regarding the renewal of its aircraft as it aims to transition to a numerically larger, single-type fleet, Chief Executive Yanko Georgiev told AIN.
"The aim is to grow the fleet to possibly 15 narrowbodies over the next four to five years," he said.
The privately-owned Bulgarian flag carrier currently operates nine aircraft - two A319-100s, three A320-200s, and four E190s - the ch-aviation fleets module shows. The average age of the fleet is 10.5 years, although all Airbus narrowbodies are over 11 years of age, while the Embraers are 7.5-8 years old. The carrier dry-leases its aircraft.
Bulgaria Air also wet-leases a single 21.9-year-old B737-300 from its subsidiary Bul Air.
Bul Air owns nine B737-300s in total, although the other eight units are currently inactive during the winter period.
Georgiev pointed out that operating a single-type fleet would result in cost savings while operating a larger number of aircraft will not only allow it to expand its scheduled network, but also add more charter flights and grow its nascent ACMI business.
Air Bulgaria entered the ACMI market last year when it established a long-term partnership with Air Italy (Milan Malpensa), an airline suffering from the grounding of its B737-8s. Currently, one A320 and two E190s operate for the Italian carrier.
Georgiev underlined that ACMI operations are a good buffer for the low winter season when demand for both scheduled and charter flights drops.
