News

Since joining the EU in January 2007, Bulgaria has undergone a positive development, and traffic growth has accelerated accordingly. This promising trend is also affecting the national aviation sector which may profit from the traffic growth but also has to cope with intensifying competition flying into and within Bulgaria under the EU open skies agreement.

For the past two months Lufthansa Consulting (LCG) has been supporting Bulgaria Air, Hemus Air and Viaggio Air in their efforts to take exploit the opportunities offered by a liberalized market while preparing for the threat of increased competition. The new common owner of these three airlines has one goal: to merge the airlines into one strong and reliable carrier that is modern and innovative while still embodying the traditions and values of the Bulgarian people and their culture.

Lufthansa Consulting is involved in this project, which will run until February 2008, in two main ways. First, the aviation specialists have provided experienced airline executives to help management immediately stabilize and integrate the airlines by setting up proper processes and routines. In the medium to long term, LCG is defining the future business model and developing the merger plan as well as the market strategies. As the challenges are multidimensional and the market dynamics are rapidly changing, Lufthansa Consulting will actively support the change process. Services offered include network and fleet planning, strategy development, change management and organizational design.