Blue Air

Blue Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
0B BMS BLUE MESSENGER
Founded 2004
Commenced operations 2004
Operating bases
Frequent-flyer program My Blue
Fleet size 30
Destinations over 100
Headquarters Bucharest, Romania
Key people Marius Puiu, CEO
Revenue Increase 415 million € (2017)
Operating income Decrease 32,3 million € (2017)
Employees 1250
Website www.blueairweb.com

Blue Air is a Romanian airline headquartered in Bucharest,[1] with its main hubs at Henri Coandă International Airport and Turin Airport. Since 2016, it has become the largest Romanian airline by scheduled passengers flown.[2] In 2017, Blue Air carried over 5 million passengers, a 40% increase over the 3.6 million passengers flown the previous year.[3] As of May 2017, Blue Air flies to 104 destinations.[4]

History

Blue Air started operating in December 2004. Blue Air initially operated domestic and international flights, although domestic services were soon discontinued due to low sales and competition from TAROM as well as Căile Ferate Române, the Romanian rail company. Blue Air resumed domestic operations in 2015 starting with Bucharest-Iasi flights, followed by further routes in 2016.

On 12 April 2013, Blue Air's management announced that the airline was for sale.[5] On 17 May 2013, the company was purchased by four Romanian shareholders, and BlueAir Transport Aerian SA's flight operations were transferred to Blue Air - Airline Management Solution SRL, a company that bailed the business out with EUR 30 million.

The airline transported 1.5 million passengers in 2014, an increase from the 1.35 million passengers in 2013.[6] In 2015, the airline transported for the first time more than 2 million passengers.[7] With a total of 25 new routes announced for 2016, the airline forecasts carrying close to three million passengers in 2016.[8]

Blue Air became a full member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on 19 January 2016.[9] Furthermore, Blue Air received the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification in December 2015,[10] and is a member of the ICH (IATA Clearing House).[11]

In March 2017 Blue Air started a base in Liverpool John Lennon Airport operating to 8 destinations across Europe. Blue Air also created a 'welcome to Liverpool' Livery for their Boeing 737-800 Aircraft (YR-BMH).[12] This aircraft included slogans such as 'Cool city, Warm welcome' and 'Liverpool Music city' to help use the aircraft to promote its new base in Liverpool, England by flying this logo jet across Europe. This aircraft is also the only full special livery aircraft within the Blue Air fleet. In July 2017, Blue Air exchanged the aircraft in Larnaca International Airport, Cyprus for a smaller Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

Since November 2017, with the entry into force of the Territorial Continuity in Sardinia, Blue Air connects the Alghero airport with the Rome-Fiumicino Airport, route operated in the past by Alitalia. The airline, following a conference held at Alghero Airport in early November, announced that the Riviera del Corallo became his fourth international base of operations, after those in Torino, Liverpool and Larnaca.

In January 2018, Blue Air launched a new subsidiary in Czech Republic known as Blue Air Moravia. The airline should have commenced operations in March 2018, however, this will likely not happen due to some issues between the company and the Czech authorities.[13]

Low-cost airline Blue Air expects a turnover of EUR400 million in 2017 and to carry approximately five million passengers, which translates into an increase of over 35% for both indicators compared with 2016, said the company’s general manager Gheorghe Racaru.

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Turnover (€m) 24 50 95 124 140 150 149 137 135 150 203 300 415
Number of passengers (m) - - - 1.1 1.72 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.37 1.6 2.05 3.6 5.1
Number of aircraft (at year end) 3 4 5 6 10 8 8 8 8 11 15 24 29
Notes/sources [14] [15] [14] [15] [14] [14] [14] [14] [14] [14] [14][16] [14][17] [17][18] [19][17]

Operations

Bases

Blue Air has used Bucharest as its primary hub for most of its history. Initially, the airline's hub was located at Aurel Vlaicu International Airport until the airport became overcrowded and was increasingly surrounded by urban development, thus leading to the airport's closure for commercial airlines in 2012. Officially the airport was not closed, but the operating taxes for airlines were suddenly increased until no airline could afford them.[20] As a result, all airlines moved their operations to Bucharest's largest airport, Henri Coandă International Airport. Blue Air now uses this airport as its primary hub.

The secondary hub is Turin Airport in Italy from November 2014. The total number of destinations to and from Turin are 18, operated with 5 aircraft.

The third operating base for Blue Air is located at Bacău International Airport. BlueAir Transport Aerian (the original owner) got a concession contract for 50 years of private administration of the airport. BlueAero was the secondary company that held the contract. The airport needed urgent investments which the company promised to complete, but not even 10% of those promised investments were realised in the following two years. Blue Air is now the only airline operating from the airport. TAROM and Carpatair had domestic and international flights from here, but were discontinued.

Blue Air's bases also include Larnaca International Airport (2 aircraft based) in Cyprus, Iaşi International Airport (3 aircraft based), the primary international gateway for the north-eastern part of Romania, serving a catchment area of over 3.7 million people, and Cluj International Airport (2 aircraft based), the second largest airport in Romania.

In March 2017, Blue Air opened its first UK Base at Liverpool John Lennon Airport and based one aircraft there.[21] On 27 April 2017, Blue Air opened its 8th Base at Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport and based one aircraft there.[22]

Destinations

Blue Air has been operating for 13 years and now offers flights to 70+ scheduled destinations in Belgium, Cyprus, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, under its own brand and with the slogan "Follow your dreams and fly", Blue Air operates charter flights on behalf of leading tour operators and holiday destinations throughout Europe and West Asia, mainly the Mediterranean region.

Starting on 25 October 2015 the company has also inaugurated daily scheduled domestic flights. Daily services are currently being provided between Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Iasi, Oradea and Timisoara.[23]

Fleet

Blue Air Boeing 737-400 wearing the former livery
Blue Air Boeing 737-800

As of May 2018, the Blue Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[24][25][26]

Blue Air Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-300 1 — 141
1 148
Boeing 737-400 6 — 150
162
166
168
170
Boeing 737-500 6 — 120 One wet leased to LOT Polish Airlines
126
Boeing 737-700 1 — 144
Boeing 737-800 15 — 189 LOT Polish Airlines wetleased 2 Blue Air 737-800 in Q1-Q3 2018.[27]
Boeing 737 MAX 8 — 12[28] TBA Deliveries 2019-2021.[28]
Total 30 12

Codeshare agreements

Blue Air codeshares with the following airlines:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Concept, Openmind. "Contact | Blue Air". www.blueairweb.com. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  2. ↑ "Compania aeriană românească Blue Air a depăşit pragul de 5 milioane de pasageri | Ziarul Financiar". www.zf.ro. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  3. ↑ Stefan, Teodor (21 January 2018). "Peste 5 milioane de pasageri au ales Blue Air in 2017". Aeronews.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "Compania aeriană românească Blue Air a depăşit pragul de 5 milioane de pasageri | Ziarul Financiar". www.zf.ro. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  5. ↑ "Compania aeriană Blue Air, scoasă la vânzare" (in Romanian).
  6. ↑ "BLUE AIR ESTIMEAZĂ CĂ A TRANSPORTAT 1,5 MILIOANE DE PASAGERI ÎN 2014 - NEWS AIR" (in Romanian). 6 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Peste 2 milioane de pasageri transportati de Blue Air in 2015". T2T.ro (in Romanian). 23 December 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
  8. ↑ dcnews (8 July 2016). "Blue Air "suflă" în ceafa TAROM" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  9. ↑ "Blue Air joins IATA - Airlines International Blue Air joins IATA". IATA.org official. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "Blue Air a primit certificarea IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)". T2T.ro (in Romanian). 3 December 2015.
  11. ↑ IATA Clearing House Members List
  12. ↑ "YR-BMH". www.jetphotos.com. 5 April 2017.
  13. ↑ Blue Air Moravia
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "10 ani de Blue Air. Compania închide anul 2014 pe profit şi cu afaceri de 150 de milioane de euro". Economica.net (in Romanian). Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  15. 1 2 "Blue Air Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  16. ↑ "O companie aeriană din România e în top cinci mondial al operatorilor low-cost cu cele mai vechi avioane".
  17. 1 2 3 [Aproape 3.6 milioane pasageri au ales Blue Air in 2016 http://aeronews.ro/aproape-3-6-milioane-pasageri-au-ales-blue-air-in-2016/], Aeronews.ro, Retrieved on 27 January 2017
  18. ↑ "Afacerile Blue Air au depăşit pentru prima dată pragul de 200 de milioane de euro în 2015".
  19. ↑ Insider, Romania (16 March 2017). "Romanian airline Blue Air records EUR 300 million turnover in 2016".
  20. ↑ "Închiderea aeroportului Băneasa dezvăluie o comoară imobiliară de un miliard de euro - Ziarul Financiar". zf.ro (in Romanian). 5 March 2012.
  21. ↑ "LJLA to become Blue Air's latest European base bringing more flights, more international visitors and more jobs at LJLA". Liverpool Airport.
  22. ↑ "Compania aeriană românească Blue Air a depăşit pragul de 5 milioane de pasageri | Ziarul Financiar". www.zf.ro. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  23. ↑ "Bucuresti – Iasi cu Blue Air". airlinestravel.ro (in Romanian). 9 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "Blue Air Fleet Details and History". planespotters.net. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  25. ↑ "Blue Air Fleet". www.airfleets.net. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  26. ↑ "Blue Air - Flota | Boeing". www.blueairweb.com (in Romanian). Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  27. ↑ 2018, UBM (UK) Ltd. "LOT Polish Airlines outlines leased Blue Air 737 operations in 2018". Routesonline. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  28. 1 2 St. John, Laura (19 June 2017). "Air Lease Corporation Announces the Lease Placement of Six New Boeing 737 MAX 8 and Six 737-800 Aircraft with Blue Air". Air Lease Corporation. Retrieved 20 June 2017.

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