Blue Air
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| Founded | 2004 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 2004 | ||||||
| Operating bases | |||||||
| Hubs | Henri Coandă International Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | My Blue | ||||||
| Fleet size | 15 | ||||||
| Destinations | 34 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Bucharest, Romania | ||||||
| Key people | Gheorghe Răcaru, CEO | ||||||
| Website | blueairweb.com | ||||||
Blue Air, legally Blue Air - Airline Management Solutions S.R.L, is a Romanian low-cost airline headquartered in Sector 1, in Bucharest,[1] with its main base at Henri Coandă International Airport.[2]
Contents
History
Blue Air started operations in December 2004. At its founding, Blue Air also operated a domestic Bucharest-Timișoara flight, though this was discontinued in March 2005 due to low demand and competition from TAROM as well as Căile Ferate Române, the Romanian rail company. Blue Air began domestic flights to Cluj International Airport from Bucharest on 29 October 2006, operated with a Boeing 737.
The company had a turnover of 150 Million Euros in 2012 and a load factor of 92%.[3]
On 12 April 2013, the Blue Air administration made public the fact that the company is for sale.[4] On the 17 May 2013, a press release was issued announcing that BlueAir Transport Aerian SA's flight operations will be transferred to Airline Management Solution SRL, a company that bailed out the business with a 30 million EUR deal. The new company is registered in Romania by 4 shareholders, 2 Romanians with 33% each (both BlueAir pilots) and 2 other Romanians with 17% each (one BlueAir employee and one with past ticketing and customer service affairs with the old company).[5]
The airline transported 1.5 million people in 2014, an increase compared to the 1.35 million people in 2013.[6] In 2015, the airline transported for the first time more than 2 million passengers.[7]
Operations
Bases
Blue Air always used Bucharest as its homebase. At first, the homebase was Bucharest Baneasa - BBU until the airport became overcrowded and was absorbed by the city, so it had to be closed to airlines in 2012. Officially the airport was not closed, but the operating taxes for the airlines had suddenly grown until no airline could support them.[8] At this point all airlines moved their operations to Bucharest Otopeni - OTP airport. Blue Air now uses this airport as its homebase.
The second operating base for Blue Air is located at Bacău International Airport. BlueAir Transport Aerian SA (the original owner) managed to get a concession contract for 50 years of private administration of the airport. BlueAero was the secondary company that held the contract. The airport needed some fast investments which the company promised to complete, but they did not even reach 10% of those investments in more than 2 years. When Airline Management Solution SRL took over the operations it choose not to take the airport so it signed it off back to the government. The airline is now the only operator on the airport. TAROM and Carpatair had domestic and international flights from here, but they discontinued.
Destinations
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Blue Air operates to 34 scheduled destinations in Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom with additional charter operations mainly around the Mediterranean.
Starting 25th Octomber 2015 the company has two daily scheduled domestic flights between Bucharest and Iași.[9]
Fleet
As of December 2015, the Blue Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[10][11]
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-300 | 2 | — | 136 / 141 | |
| Boeing 737-400 | 10 | — | var 150 - 170 | |
| Boeing 737-500 | 1 | — | 126 | |
| Boeing 737-700 | 1 | — | 134 | |
| Boeing 737-800 | 1 | — | 189 | |
| Total | 15 | — |
In the past, Blue Air also operated Saab 2000 and Saab 340 aircraft, the latter one leased from Direct Aero Services.
Starting December 2015 the airline is IOSA accredited.[12]
Accidents and incidents
On January 7, 2016, a Blue Air Boeing 737-400, registration YR-BAS performing charter flight 0B-9301 from Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport (Romania) to Barcelona (Spain) was supposed to land at Cluj International Airport (Romania) to pick up several passengers. While landing, with 110 passengers and 6 crew, on Cluj's runway 25 at 08:02L (06:02Z), the plane overran the end of the runway by about 20 meters (65 feet) and came to a stop with all gears on the paved surface of the runway end safety area. No injuries occurred, the aircraft sustained no damage. The passengers disembarked normally via mobile stairs and were bused to the terminal.[13][14] Cluj-Napoca International Airport was closed for cca. 3 hours due to the incident.
See also
References
- ↑ "Contact." Blue Air. Retrieved on 26 December 2010. "Romania, Bucharest, Sector 1, Buzesti,l street 71, 5th floor, Tax reg no 16091846"
- ↑ "Contact." Blue Air. Retrieved on 7 September 2010.
- ↑ http://m.romanialibera.ro/stire-302333.html
- ↑ http://www.mediafax.ro/economic/compania-aeriana-blue-air-scoasa-la-vanzare-10735346
- ↑ http://www.romania-insider.com/belgian-romanian-firm-takes-over-low-cost-airline-blue-air-in-eur-30-million-deal/99506/
- ↑ http://newsair.ro/blue-air-estimeaza-ca-a-transportat-15-milioane-de-pasageri-in-2014.html
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.zf.ro/companii/inchiderea-aeroportului-baneasa-dezvaluie-o-comoara-imobiliara-de-un-miliard-de-euro-9369706
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://ch-aviation.com/portal/airline/BLR#al_profile_tab_fleet
- ↑ Blue Air at airfleets.net
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
