Bulgaria's aviation sector is to be put into quarantine when it joins the European Union on January 1 after Brussels inspectors discovered "grave deficiencies" in safety procedures.
Its main effect is to exclude BG air carriers from the benefit of being considered a "Community carrier". BG carriers may continue to operate as "third country operators" to and from Member States in accordance with existing bilateral agreements.
I flew Bulgarian Air Charter and Bulgaria Air last year and had absolutely no problems. The things I did notice was that the Bulgarian Air Charter still had its Alitalia interior and the Bulgaria Air 737 still had the Varig interior
well, you may have an Bulgaria Air 737 with Easyjet Switzerland or Air France or old Lufthansa interior as well ... And there is this small difference between "having no problems" and "feeling safe"
But I have to admit my personal experiences are from autumn 2004, so maybe they are on the way to improve things in the meantime
euroflyer wrote:And there is this small difference between "having no problems" and "feeling safe"
Well, there is a big difference between feeling safe en being safe ... If you don't feel safe on an aircraft because some system MIGHT mallfunction, then you will never feel safe. The fact is that planes are made redundant and thus have multiple backups of the most critical systems. The chances of 2 or 3 identical systems that fail at the same time is as good as 0 !
Anyway, what I am trying to say is that most people won't "feel" safe if they see the airline is from a country they think is not as good as theirs. Just to give you a small example : my uncle said he felt very unsafe on an CSA aircraft, simply because it was from Tsjechia
There is a world of difference between 2 flights arriving safely , and an airline operation having the required operational standards as imposed by JAR-OPS...
“We have to prove that we meet completely the European requirements for safe aviation” the Bulgarian Directorate General of Civil Aviation Administration’s new head Zahary Alexiev said.
Great spirit, and a professional talking.
An action plan for each of the remarks will be worked out. It will be coordinated with the EASA* experts. About two months will be needed for the preparation of the plan.
The scope, the time frame and the action, that's the way to plan.
Let's wish Zahary all the best with his mission.
European Commission invokes safeguard clause against Bulgaria on aviation safety
Andries 