Flight Review: Bulgaria Air Economy Class Airbus A220
Flight#: FB461
From: Sofia (SOF)
To: Amsterdam (AMS)
Flight time: 3h
Aircraft: Airbus A220
My attendance to the 2024 Aviation-Event SOF conference, provided me with an opportunity not only to learn quite a bit about the Bulgarian and broader Eastern European aviation scene (including the ambitious expansion plan of Sofia airport!) but also to try out the local carrier, Bulgaria Air, for the very first time (and on my way to another interesting aviation conference, Sustainable Aero Festival, which took place in Amsterdam!).
Bulgaria Air is a small, independent and unaligned national carrier (although it does codeshare with quite a few airlines). Despite being de facto the flag carrier of Bulgaria, it is privately owned.
Pre-flight experience
I did my check-in online since I was traveling light and it was rather smooth. Sofia is a rather compact airport and it was not particularly busy at 5.30am, so the whole pre-flight experience was rather smooth.
My ticket was on economy class, so no lounge checking this time, although during the Aviation-Event conference I had the chance to speak with the airport’s Spanish CEO, Jesús Caballero, and I learned that there is only one lounge at the airport, which is shared by all airlines.
Cabin and amenities
The aircraft for this flight, an A220, was one of the most modern on Bulgaria Air’s fleet. The carrier operates a mixed fleet of some 14 aircraft: A320s, A220s and Embraer E190 aircraft (some of the latter are wet leased to Air Serbia).
Bulgaria Air’s business model is that of a full service carrier, so its aircraft have a two-class configuration.
I was surprised to see that, unlike the European norma these days, actually, Bulgaria Air’s business class features proper premium seats, larger and more comfortable than the ones in economy. It does have a 2-2 layout, but you can see there is plenty of space between you and your neighbour!
And that’s the only thing I can say about Bulgaria Air’s business class, because my seat was further down the aisle in economy class, so let’s go there!
As you can see in these pictures, the cabin configuration in economy is 2-3 and the overall decor is pretty modern and all in light grey. It reminded me a bit of airBaltic, wondering whether this is the default cabin decor for the A220?
I can’t say I don’t like it. It looks fresh, modern and clean, if maybe a bit cold. Seat pitch at 30’ is pretty ok. Perhaps not the best in the industry, but better than most low cost airlines.
Another couple of nice details: in-seat power with C-type charger and USB port. And, also, a sliding stand for personal electronic devices such as phones or iPads, so that you can watch comfortably whichever content you have in them (there is no internet connectivity or IFE onboard, though).
What there is: not one but TWO rather good inflight magazines! Bulgaria Air’s own magazine and a local edition of Bloomberg, both with texts in both English and Bulgarian.
I must say I was positively impressed by the content on both magazines and particularly surprised about the very business and economy-oriented focus of the content in both of them.
Two other curiosities of the Bulgaria Air inflight magazine is how the different codeshares are depicted, with detailed route maps showing the connectivity each of the airline’s partners provide. It is the first time I see it explained with this level of detail!
I also found the fleet page a bit puzzling, because it shows aircraft types that I thought were not in the airline’s current fleet, like the A319 and the B737, but perhaps I am missing something. Also, from the way the information is displayed it is hard to understand how many of each type of how and with which layout are they operated, but I guess these are avgeek concerns and secondary concerns for most passengers!
Food and drink
Did I mention that Bulgaria Air is a full service airline?
So, even in economy class we got our little breakfast, starting with a complimentary bottle of water upon boarding.
Then, we got this sandwich, which was served warm and was, actually, pretty tasty, and then there was a coffee and tea service (or juice or water if you preferred).
Oh, and that’s not all! Because, after the coffee, the crew also distributed these nicely wrapped Bulgaria Air-branded and A220-themed little chocolates! Always a nice details when airlines do this (like SWISS, for example).
So, that was it. The A220 is a really quiet airplane and this, plus the early departure of the flight helped me catch up a bit on sleep before a smooth landing at Amsterdam-Schiphol (AMS) some 3h after our take-off from Sofia!
Our Take
Taking Bulgaria Air is a bit like flying economy class used to be in some time past, plus the very modern and quiet A220 aircraft, and I mean it in a nice way: nothing pretentious, but you get some little thing to eat and drink, a little sweet and you spend part of the flight turning the pages of a thick and content-dense inflight magazine.
Overall, a pretty decent economy class.