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Hemus Air
IATA DU	ICAO HMS	Callsign Hemus Air[1]
Founded		1991
Hubs		Sofia, Bulgaria
Fleet size		11
Destinations		14
Headquarters		Sofia, Bulgaria
Key people		{{{key_people}}}
Website: Hemus Air

Hemus Air is the Bulgarian flag carrier based in Sofia, Bulgaria. It operates scheduled domestic and international services from Sofia and Varna, as well as charter, cargo and air ambulance services. Its main base is Sofia Airport.

Contents 1 History 2 Services 3 Fleet 4 Trivia 5 External links 6 References

The airline was established and started operations in 1986, when it branched off from Balkan Bulgarian Airlines. It initially operated as a separate department providing ambulance services, flight calibration and aerial photography. In 1991 it became a separate legal entity from Balkan and was named Hemus Air. The company was privatized by Bulgarian corporate investors in 2002 and has since tried to establish itself on the market, facing stiff competition from foreign carriers, as well as the newly-established successor of Balkan, Bulgaria Air. Quite ambitiously, Hemus Air's management has pledged to unite the major Bulgarian airlines and is currently bidding, together with Italy's Air One, in the privatization process of government-owned Bulgaria Air.

Hemus Air is seeking to acquire up to 15 new aircraft to expand activities in Bulgaria following its recent take over of Bulgaria Air, when it acquired a 99.9% stake in the flag carrier reportedly for Euro 6.6m and a promise to invest a further €86m over the next five years. Hemus Air is owned by Varna-based industrial/financial enterprise TIM ^[2].

Hemus Air operates the following services (at December 2006)^{[citation needed]}:

• Domestic scheduled destinations:

Bourgas Sofia Varna

• International scheduled destinations:
  • Athens
  • Beirut
  • Berlin (Tegel International Airport)
  • Bucharest (Otopeni Airport)
  • Dubai
  • Köln
  • Larnaca
  • London (Heathrow Airport)
  • Madrid
  • Tirana
  • Tripoli

The Hemus Air fleet includes the following aircraft (at December 2006)^{[citation needed]}:

• 1 Boeing 737-400
• 1 Boeing 737-300
• 3 BAe 146-200
• 4 BAe 146-300
• 2 ATR-42-300

The carrier started life as a spin-off of then-powerful Balkan Bulgarian Airlines. In antiquity, the Balkan Mountains were known as Haemus Mons, named after Thracian king Haemus (pronounced Hemus in Bulgarian).

• Hemus Air
• Hemus Air - Varna
• Hemus Air Fleet

1. ^ Airline Codes November 2006
2. ^ Airliner World January 2007