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Blue Air

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Not to be confused with Airblue or jetblue.
Blue Air
File:BlueAir logo.png
IATA ICAO Callsign
0B BMS BLUE MESSENGER
Founded2004
Commenced operations2004
Operating bases
HubsHenri Coandă International Airport
Secondary hubsTurin Airport
Frequent-flyer programMy Blue
Fleet size25
Destinations70
HeadquartersBucharest, Romania
Key peopleGheorghe Răcaru, CEO
Websiteblueairweb.com

Blue Air is the largest airline of Romania as of March, 2017 and is headquartered in Bucharest,[1] with its main hubs at Henri Coandă International Airport and Turin Airport. In 2016, the airline carried 3.6 million passengers, a significant increase from the 2 million passengers in 2015. As of May 2016, Blue Air flies to 48 destinations in 12 European countries.

History

Blue Air started its operations in December 2004. In its early years, although largely focusing on international flights, Blue Air also operated domestic Bucharest-Timișoara and Bucharest-Cluj flights, though these were soon discontinued due to low demand and competition from TAROM as well as Căile Ferate Române, the Romanian rail company. Due to the growing economy and increase in air travel, Blue Air resumed its domestic operations in 2015 starting with Bucharest-Iasi flights, followed by several new routes in 2016 between major Romanian cities, including Cluj-Napoca, Oradea and Timisoara.

On 12 April 2013, Blue Air's management announced that the airline was for sale.[2] On the 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.[3] In 2015, the airline transported for the first time more than 2 million passengers.[4] With a total of 25 new routes announced for 2016, the airline forecasts carrying close to three million passengers in 2016.[5]

Blue Air became a full member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on 19 January 2016.[6] Furthermore, Blue Air received the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification in December 2015,[7] and is a member of the ICH (IATA Clearing House).[8]

Business figures

2005[9] 2006[9] 2007[9] 2008[9] 2009[9] 2010[9] 2011[9] 2012[9] 2013[9][10] 2014[9][11] 2015[11][12] 2016[13][11]
Turnover (€m) 24 50 95 124 140 150 149 137 135 150 203 300
Number of passengers (m) - - - 1.1 1.72 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.37 1.6 2.05 3.6
Number of aircraft (at year end) - - 5 6 10 8 8 8 8 11 15 24

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.[14] 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 15.

The third operating base for Blue Air is located at Bacău International Airport. BlueAir Transport Aerian SA (the original owner) managed to get 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 and Iasi International Airport (2 aircraft based), the primary international gateway for the north-eastern part of Romania, serving a catchment area of over 3.7 million people.

In March 2017, Blue Air is set to open its first UK Base in Liverpool John Lennon Airport and will base one aircraft there.

Destinations

Main article: Blue Air destinations

Blue Air has been operating for 13 years and now offers flights to 70+ scheduled destinations in Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, 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, Iasi, Oradea and Timisoara.[15]

Fleet

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

As of March 2017, the Blue Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[16][17]

Blue Air Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-300 2 — 141
148
Boeing 737-400 9 — 150
162
166
168
170
Boeing 737-500 6 — 120
126
Boeing 737-700 1 — 144
Boeing 737-800 7 6[18] 189 Scheduled to be delivered by 1 June 2017
Total 25 7

Accidents and incidents

  • On 7 January 2016, a Blue Air Boeing 737-400, registration YR-BAS performing charter flight 0B-9301 from Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport (Romania) to Barcelona (Spain) was supposed to land at Cluj International Airport (Romania) to pick up several passengers. While landing, with 110 passengers and 6 crew, on Cluj's runway 25 at 08:02L (06:02Z), the plane overran the end of the runway by about 10 meters (32 feet) and came to a stop with all gears on the paved surface of the runway end safety area. No injuries occurred, the aircraft sustained no damage. The passengers disembarked normally via mobile stairs and were bused to the terminal.[19][20][21] Cluj-Napoca International Airport was closed for cca. 3 hours due to the incident.

See also

References

  1. ^ Concept, Openmind. "Contact | Blue Air". www.blueairweb.com. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  2. ^ "Compania aeriană Blue Air, scoasă la vânzare" (in Romanian). {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ "BLUE AIR ESTIMEAZĂ CĂ A TRANSPORTAT 1,5 MILIOANE DE PASAGERI ÎN 2014 - NEWS AIR" (in Romanian). 6 January 2015. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  4. ^ "Peste 2 milioane de pasageri transportati de Blue Air in 2015". T2T.ro (in Romanian). 23 December 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-27. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. ^ dcnews (8 July 2016). "Blue Air "suflă" în ceafa TAROM" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2017-03-21. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  6. ^ "Blue Air joins IATA - Airlines International Blue Air joins IATA". IATA.org official. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  7. ^ "Blue Air a primit certificarea IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)". T2T.ro (in Romanian). 3 December 2015. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  8. ^ IATA Clearing House Members List
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j [10 ani de Blue Air. Compania închide anul 2014 pe profit şi cu afaceri de 150 de milioane de euro http://www.economica.net/10-ani-de-blue-air-compania-inchide-anul-2014-pe-profit-si-cu-afaceri-de-150-de-milioane-de-euro_93003.html#ixzz4Wx3lrTrE], Economica.net, Retrieved on 27 January 2017
  10. ^ "O companie aeriană din România e în top cinci mondial al operatorilor low-cost cu cele mai vechi avioane".
  11. ^ a b c [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
  12. ^ "Afacerile Blue Air au depăşit pentru prima dată pragul de 200 de milioane de euro în 2015".
  13. ^ Insider, Romania (16 March 2017). "Romanian airline Blue Air records EUR 300 million turnover in 2016".
  14. ^ "Închiderea aeroportului Băneasa dezvăluie o comoară imobiliară de un miliard de euro - Ziarul Financiar". zf.ro (in Romanian). 5 March 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  15. ^ "Bucuresti – Iasi cu Blue Air". airlinestravel.ro (in Romanian). 9 July 2015. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ "Blue Air Fleet Details and History". planespotters.net. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  17. ^ "Blue Air Fleet". www.airfleets.net. Retrieved 2017-03-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  18. ^ Concept, Openmind (March 2017). "Inflight Magazine". Retrieved 21 March 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  19. ^ "Incident: Blue B734 at Cluj on Jan 7th 2016, runway excursion on landing". The Aviation Herald. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  20. ^ "Blue Air plane slips off the runway at Romania's Cluj airport". Romania Insider. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  21. ^ "Blue Air Boeing 737-400, YR-BAS, Flight 0B-9301: Incident occurred January 07, 2016 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania". www.kathrynsreport.com (in Romanian). 20 January 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)

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