Air VIA

The airline was founded in 1990 with the initial corporate name Varna International Airways by a group of private Bulgarian investors and from 1991 performed charter flights for Bulgarian and leading European tour operators such as Neckermann, TUI Travel, Jetairfly, Thomas Cook and Prodintour to and from Bulgarian seaside resorts. The company was licensed and certified according to the Bulgarian and EU regulations to transport passengers and cargo. Between 1990 and 2005, Air VIA operated with 5 new Tupolev TU-154M aircraft. In 1994 the airline was acquired by Denis Barekov, a Bulgarian entrepreneur, who had investments in mining, glass production, real-estate and other industries. In 2005, Air VIA changed its fleet due to the ever growing competition, EU regulations, increasing fuel prices and higher customer requirements. In the summer of 2006, Air VIA started to operate Airbus A320 aircraft and phased out the dated Tupolev-154M. On 28 August 2015, Air Via added its first Airbus A321-200 to its fleet. Air Via operated for 25 years in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and in other regions for many different clients under ACMI or Charter contracts.