Balkan Holidays

[The Pole]

Too true!

This Balkan relic was by far my favourite from back in the day.

I flew to Bulgaria with my folks and brother on one in the 80s
We departed 14 and turned left and whilst down wind got a great view of the airport. Loved the landing gear pods.

Departed 32

Departed 32

 

[lbaspotter]

Well it’s a funny looking Boeing 737-400 operating todays Balkan Holidays flight.

Instead we have Airbus A319, LZ-FBB of Bulgaria Air due in at 17:15 from Bourgas as “BGH5569”, its then due back out at 18:25 as ‘BGH5570”

 

[Seasider]

On finals at this time.

 

[Aviador]

On finals at this time.

Are they ever going to get round to painting that thing?

 

[White Heather]

Are they ever going to get round to painting that thing?

They did! They painted it all white. Clearly a bunch of Leeds fans !

 

[LBAYORKIE]

Well it’s a funny looking Boeing 737-400 operating todays Balkan Holidays flight.

Instead we have Airbus A319, LZ-FBB of Bulgaria Air due in at 17:15 from Bourgas as “BGH5569”, its then due back out at 18:25 as ‘BGH5570”

Well they're not going to get a 737/400 load of pax onto an A319. Presumably not fully booked.

 

[752]

It apparently was fully booked as it was not bookable on Balkan website a good week ago. Interesting to see a A319 operate an international flight, all we normally have is them operating BFS/LHR (in the past)

 

[White Heather]

It apparently was fully booked as it was not bookable on Balkan website a good week ago. Interesting to see a A319 operate an international flight, all we normally have is them operating BFS/LHR (in the past)

It holds 140 compared to around 160 on a 400, so if it was booked up, they must have planned to use the A319 all along on that flight - unless it course they dumped about 20 pax and cancelled their holiday.

 

[Aviador]

For Balkan Holidays to be around for so long I doubt they do that.

 

[White Heather]

For Balkan Holidays to be around for so long I doubt they do that.

So do I. So they probably planned to use the A319 on this, and maybe a couple more of the early season flights.

 

[lbaspotter]

Balkan Holidays summer 2025 is now on sale.

Good news is that Leeds/Bradford retains its 1x weekly Saturday Bourgas service operated by BH Air using a larger Airbus A320 instead of the A319 that has been used so far this summer..

Saturdays - May 24th to September 20th
BGH5569 = BOJ 16:00 - LBA 17:35 / BGH5570 = LBA 18:25 - BOJ 23:50

 

[fozzy]

I flew to Bulgaria with my folks and brother on one in the 80s
We departed 14 and turned left and whilst down wind got a great view of the airport. Loved the landing gear pods.

Departed 32

Departed 32

Back in the summer of 1993 I worked at the airport cleaning the aircraft between flights and remember cleaning the Balkan Tu-154 aircraft, Quite an experience.

 

[752]

Balkans S25 program now being operated on Jet2's Schedule service. Other airports are affected.

From the post on social media, I believe NOT affected airports are ABZ, BFS, NCL, HUY, MME, MAN, those affected: EDI, GLA, LBA, CWL, LGW & EMA.

BRS & STN arrive on 3rd party it was reported & SEN cancelled.

Looks to be a sign of the company struggling / poor sales. Hope they can bounce back from this.

 

[Jerry]

Looks to be a sign of the company struggling / poor sales

Or they can't source aircraft for the summer?

 

[752]

Or they can't source aircraft for the summer?

Hmm, without an expanded program, and plenty of time to source / use what they used the last couple of years, I find it hard to believe.

 

[Finger66]

So there were no spare TU-154s lying around then!

Seriously though two benefits to using Jet2:
Keeps a program available for them. Are they only offering multiples of 7 nights as holidays or variable durations with extra flights on LS.
More money for Jet2 and we definitely need that to happen with them being LBAs biggest operator.

Yes the reduced variety is a shame, and yes it may suggest worrying times for BH, but let's take the plusses for now, especially as LBA haven't been singled out here.

Might actually help relieve a bit of Saturday stand capacity issues too for 2025

 

[Jerry]

Hmm, without an expanded program, and plenty of time to source / use what they used the last couple of years, I find it hard to believe.

Well let's hope we're not about to see another tour operator go to the wall.

 

[Aviador]

Balkan Holidays have been around for a long time. I see this move as a positive one for them. It will help them maintain their summer ops from airports like Leeds without having to reduce prices to fill planes. It isn't great from a spotters point of view, no, but if it keeps them in business then fair play to them. On the positive side for Jet2, it might increase the chances of more destinations and flights if they have a third party selling holidays for them.

 

[White Heather]

Balkan Holidays have been around for a long time. I see this move as a positive one for them. It will help them maintain their summer ops from airports like Leeds without having to reduce prices to fill planes. It isn't great from a spotters point of view, no, but if it keeps them in business then fair play to them. On the positive side for Jet2, it might increase the chances of more destinations and flights if they have a third party selling holidays for them.

I'm sure other airports such as NME and HUY would have been on the list had Jet2 operated from there. It will be interesting to see if there is sufficient demand for Jet2 to add an additional flight to Bourgas.

 

[Finger66]

Just hope this doesn't turn into a boj job!!!!

I agree it does possibly give both operators a chance to increase their offerings so let's hope additional frequencies do materialise