Air VIA was a

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

with its head office in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, that operated charter flights on behalf of European tour operators. Most Air VIA flights operated from European destinations into

Varna Airport Varna Airport () is the airport of Varna, the historical maritime capital of Bulgaria. Varna Airport is the third largest airport in Bulgaria. It is located 10 kilometers from the center of Varna near the town of Aksakovo. The airport serves V ...

and

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 ...

, the airline also offered

wet lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

subservices.

Flight International ''Flight International'' 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", it is the world's old ...

27 March 2007

History

The airline was founded and started operations in 1990 as Varna International Airways. The company is licensed and certified according to the national and European standards for non-regular transport of passengers. In 1990, Air VIA started operations with five new

Tupolev TU-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

M. After the airline was founded by a group of private Bulgarian investors the company initially performed charter flights for Bulgarian and leading European tour operators such as Neckermann, TUI Travel, Jetairfly and Prodintour to and from Bulgarian seaside resorts. In 2005, Air VIA's management decided to completely change the fleet due to the ever growing competition, EU regulations, environmental responsibility, increasing fuel prices and higher customer requirements. In summer 2006, Air VIA became the first Bulgarian airline to operate the

Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...

and phased out the dated Tupolev 154. On 28 August 2015, Air Via added its first

Airbus A321-200 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the b ...

to its fleet. In 2017, Air VIA ceased flight operations.ch-aviation.com - Air Via
retrieved 2 September 2018

Destinations

Air Via mainly operated charter flights between the Bulgarian seaside airports

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

and Varna and countries in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

Fleet

LZ-MDB_A320-214_Air_VIA_PMI_21MAY10_(4626984427)

, the Air VIA fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Incidents and accidents

* On 24 May 2013, Air VIA flight 502 from

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

to Varna overshot the runway at Varna Airport after touchdown because of tailwind. Two people on board were injured during evacuation. * On 4 July 2014, in clear weather and calm winds, the Air VIA's A320 flight 501 from Varna to

failed to land within length of runway 08R and touched down hard short of the runway threshold. The aircraft bounced and touched down for a second time at the very beginning of the runway (in the area of the ‘piano keys’) in a nose-high attitude resulting in a tailstrike. The landing run was completed normally and the A320 taxied to the main apron without assistance. Nobody was injured. Substantial damage occurred to the aft fuselage.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Air Via Defunct airlines of Bulgaria Airlines established in 1990 Airlines disestablished in 2016 2016 disestablishments in Bulgaria Defunct charter airlines Bulgarian companies established in 1990