Bulgaria Air is continuing to move its Airbus A220s on to new scheduled routes as the Sofia-based carrier rounds out its fleet of the Canadian-built small narrowbodies.
The airline’s seventh and final A220 arrived from Airbus’s Montreal final assembly line in March, giving the national carrier five A220-300s and two of the smaller A220-100s.
The latest route for the A220s is between Varna, the Black Sea holiday resort, and Paris Charles De Gaulle, which will be operated 2X-weekly over the summer season. The A220s have also recently been assigned to the Varna-Frankfurt and Varna-Prague routes for the summer season.
Bulgaria Air operates the A220 in a two-class layout; both the -100 and -300 have eight business-class seats, with the -100 having 110 economy class and the -300 offering 135.
In Bulgaria Air’s service, the A220s are replacing the carrier’s earlier-generation A319s, with that process now almost complete.
Unusually, the airline also operates Embraer 190s, from the same small narrowbody class of aircraft. Bulgaria Air currently leases out its fleet of four E190s on a wet-lease basis to neighboring Air Serbia and the Belgrade-based carrier says that the 108-seat E190s have proven to be a good fit for its network.
Additionally, Air Serbia has two Embraer E195s in its fleet and says that it is actively exploring options for further Embraers. The company is in advanced discussions with lessors and is close to signing a Letter of Intent for two more E195s, with expected deliveries in Q4 2025.
“The Embraers, especially the E195s, play a key role in our ongoing fleet modernization,” said an Air Serbia spokesperson.
“Alongside additional Airbus A320 aircraft, they are part of our strategy to gradually phase out our 10 Airbus A319s over time. Two of those A319s will begin the phase-out process after the summer season.
“The E195s give us the flexibility to efficiently replace older aircraft and adjust capacity to market needs, while also enabling us to explore new destinations or strengthen frequencies on existing routes without committing to long-term capacity increases too early.”
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