Talk:Balkan Bulgarian Airlines
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Balkans, Yugoslavia, Serbia...
[edit]This article has the tendency to show how much the "famous" brand Balkan suffered because of Yugoslavia (I also removed an unsourced claim of "intense relief flights to save hunger in Montenegro" ???) and blames Yugoslav wars (yes, Bulgarian economy suffered, but because Serbia is in between Bulgaria and Western Europe, and the non-flight zone imposed over Yugoslavia made flights from Sofia to have to go around) however, and important, the article completely fails to mention a huge number of new Serbian (and Macedonian, Montenegrin, Bosnian and Kosovar) travellers that invaded Sofia airport during the decade long sanctions that forbitten the 1989 placed 9th biggest European carrier JAT to fly out of Serbia, and forbitted all foreign airlines to fly to any airport in Serbia, completelly destroying air transport there, so more than 10 million people that usually travelled from Belgrade during the 1990s travelled mostly from Sofia (Budapest also had its share). That was quite an unnexpected important fresh revenew back then completely ignored in the article. FkpCascais (talk) 08:45, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
Renaming from TABSO to Balkan
[edit]I have added a {{disputed-inline}} tag to the claim that the airline was renamed Balkan on 1 January 1968. The single reference I found (dated at March the same year) says it planned to have its name changed. Clearly, and inconsistency arose here. More sources are required.--Jetstreamer Talk 13:11, 1 August 2012 (UTC)
Unexplained removal of content
[edit]This and this have been reverted. All the information is perfectly sourced.--Jetstreamer Talk 14:51, 18 April 2015 (UTC)
Bulair (1968 - 1972), Балкан, and БАΛКАН
[edit]Warning: the following text may contain WP:OR (I'm not entirely sure myself)
The situation with Bulair is complicated, but the article appears to have the story completely back-to-front. Currently it says the following; {edited for brevity}
TABSO faced home-grown competition. Executives of the Teksim trading company had decided to start their own aviation business which included crop-spraying and inclusive-tour charter airline operations under the name of Булер (Bulair). Bulair ended up buying (more) Il-18s turboprops under heavy Soviet and Bulgarian political pressure.
(LZ-BEL, 1974)
(LZ-BAE, 1998)
Bulair bought them? There is plenty of evidence that various Il-18s displayed the Bulair logo, but AFAIK these aircraft had been purchased and flown by TABSO long before re-appearing with Bulair titles. i.e. TABSO owned them.
By registration, the following aircraft were involved (and possibly more); LZ-BED, LZ-BEL, LZ-BEM, LZ-BES, LZ-BET. (Plus the An-12 support ship LZ-BAA, which was delivered new to Bulair in 1968)
Various photographic databases will show these aircraft firstly in TABSO markings, then at a later date, in Bulair markings. I can recommend AirHistory.net and Airliners.net for supporting 'evidence'.
The Teksim venture proved a success and a thorn in the side of TABSO. ...the Teksim operation was largely disbanded by 1970. Amid rumours several Teksim directors were sent to jail. Their venture had operated under the TABSO banner for reasons of expediency (not least international rights). The last Bulair-branded aircraft had been rebranded as TABSO machines by 1972.
Firstly, it should be "rebranded... by 1973", or alternatively "by late 1972 (i.e. September or thereabouts)" again based on photographic evidence. Secondly, after Bulair, these aircraft were re-painted in the newer Balkan Bulgarian Airlines red/green colours. TABSO had ceased to exist in 1968!
Ploughing through the internet photographic archives, it is clear I am not the only one confused by this. The same aircraft appear at different times wearing different (but similar) markings; it seems more as if TABSO and Bulair worked together rather than were business rivals.
In the late 1960s both TABSO and Bulair used similar pale-blue colour-schemes; the key differences to look for are -
- Bulgarian Air Transport on the fuselage, together with a tail logo comprising 'TABSO' inside a pale blue winged-star (also may appear as a streamlined bird at first glance)
- Булер (Bulair) on the fuselage, with 'Bulair' written on the lower fuselage at the front of the aircraft (barely visible on the LZ-BEL image). On the tail, what appears to be three pale blue water droplets, travelling horizontally.
The history associated with LZ-BED shows it flying with TABSO in 1966 and 1968, but carrying Bulair titles in 1970. (This particular aircraft was written off in 1971.) And it appears that LZ-BEK, LZ-BEM, LZ-BES and LZ-BET all made the same journey, from TABSO in 1968 to Bulair in 1970.
But it gets better; I have also found two images showing LZ-BED showing a combination of both logo styles, Bulgarian Air Transport and Bulair, on the same aircraft at the same time! (one of these images is specifically dated 18th June 1967).
Finally; "Balkan" is shown as Балкан in the text, which is both the traditional form of Bulgarian, and lower-case. However, on the aircraft themselves, back at least as far as 1973, it appears as БАΛКАН, which is written in the modern form and all upper-case, clearly evident on the An-12 photo from 1998.