Hello Flight-Report community, and welcome part 2 of my summer travels! I spent this past summer exploring parts of Europe that I hadn't yet been to, as well as further exploring the country of my heritage, Bulgaria.
trip information
This series consists of 8 flights with 6 airlines on 4 types of aircraft passing through 7 airports. All flights were in Economy Class. The full routing can be seen below.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2FB301 - Economy - Sofia → Prague - Embraer 190
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
For this sub-trip, I chose to go to Prague, because I had already heard so many good things about the city, and I'd never been there. So I started looking for flights, and stumbled upon a very decent $115 round-trip, sold by Bulgaria Air. The outbound would be operated by Bulgaria Air on an Embraer 190, and the return by Bulgaria Air's charter airline Bul Air on a Boeing 737-300! I knew that I wouldn't have many more opportunities to fly on a 737 Classic anywhere in the world, so I booked the ticket immediately. The entire routing can be seen on the map below, courtesy of the Great Circle Mapper:
the morning of departure
On the morning of departure, I took a taxi to Sofia Airport. It started off as a rainy morning, but improved by the time of takeoff.
The line for check-in was surprisingly short, and 5 minutes later I had my boarding pass in hand and headed to security. While the security itself was relatively quick, the line for immigration was massive, as their computer systems were down. It didn't help that there was a baby who was yelling at the top of his lungs during the whole ordeal.
sofia vrazhdebna airport - lbsf/sof
After 30 minutes of waiting, I finally made it airside and planespotted for a bit before heading to the lounge.
ASL Airlines Ireland ATR 72 (EI-SLT) from Cologne as ABR6992.
DHL 757-200 (G-DHKT) from Leipzig as QY908.
My aircraft arriving from Varna as FB9996.
TAROM ATR 42 (YR-ATA 'Dunarea') to Bucharest-Otopeni as RO292
pliska lounge sofia
There wasn't a lot of activity on the tarmac, so I went to the Pliska Lounge to relax for a bit. The Pliska Lounge is an independant contract lounge, and isn't anything to write home about. And who the hell thought that bright purple would make a good color for a lounge?!?!
The food offerings weren't much better either.
boarding + initial impressions
Mercifully, boarding was less than 5 minutes away, so I made my way downstairs to the bus gate my flight would be boarding from.
Adria CRJ900 (S5-AAU) to Vienna as OS806.
Arriving at my ride, LZ-SOF. It was built in March 2012 and was the first of 4 E190s to be delivered to Bulgaria Air.
For some reason, when the bus pulled up to the aircraft, the flaps were down. They were retracted before passengers were allowed on board, though.
Up close with the aircraft.
The obligatory fuselage shot.
Passing through the mini Business Class cabin.
Standard E190 Economy Class.
Decent legroom for my 5'8 frame.
Nice wingview.
Water bottles at every seat.
bulgaria air 301 - sofia to prague
Everybody was on board fairly quickly, and after the safety demonstration was made we left the stand and began our taxi to Runway 27.
Passing some private jets.
Aegean A320 (SX-DNC) to Athens as A3983.
El Al 737-800 (4X-EKA)
Capital Fort - the tallest building in Bulgaria.
departure from sofia
Lining up with the runway.
Rolling.
Rotate.
Standard right turn after departure.
Slight left turn towards Prague.
Cabin during the climb.
Climbing out over northwestern Bulgaria.
Ogosta Reservoir, Montana Province, Bulgaria.
As we exited Bulgarian airspace, the seatbelt sign was turned off and I visited the restroom, where this interesting soap dispenser was.
Cabin from the rear.
Surprise #1: newspapers were handed out after takeoff. Unfortunately, it was only Bulgarian newspapers, so I couldn't read them.
Danube River.
snack service
Surprise #2: all passengers were given a hot sandwich! There was no choice and everyone got a ham and cheese sandwich, but it was quite tasty! I didn't expect that.
Also distributed during the meal service was a 'towel'…
…and branded chocolate.
mid-flight
I was very impressed with the snack on this short flight! After the flight attendants cleaned up, the captain made his announcement and said that we had just entered Hungarian airspace, and that the remaining flight time was 55 minutes.
Closeup of the winglet.
Typical Embraer PSU.
Paper thin antimacassar.
Győr, Hungary.
arrival into prague
Commencing our descent over the Austrian province of Niederösterreich.
Cloudsurfing.
Slats down.
On approach.
Short final.
Over the runway.
We had a firm landing on Runway 24 at 11:12 AM local time.
Slowing down.
Exiting the runway.
Aegean A320 (SX-DGB) to Athens as A3865.
Air Transat A330-200 (C-GUBT) to Montreal-Trudeau as TS701
Rossiya A320 (VQ-TFN 'Tver') to St. Petersburg as SU6622.
Smartwings 737-800 (OK-TVY) to Djerba as QS2816.
British Airways A320 (G-EUUJ) to London-Heathrow as BA855.
Smartwings 737-800 (N820TJ, operated by Swift Air) to Antalya as QS2608.
Travel Service 737-900ER (OK-TSM) to Hurghada as QS1241.
One last look at my seat.
Deplaning.
Thanks for the ride, LZ-SOF!
routing of fb301
We flew more-or-less directly towards Prague after departure and cruised at an altitude of 36,000 feet.
Immigration was quick, I took the Airport Shuttle to the city center and was at my Airbnb around 1h25m after I deplaned. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you again in the next installment!
Nice to see a report on Bulgaria Air, as there aren't many out there! Especially curious to see the Bul Air report on the 737 classic.
Barney the dinosaur? ?♂️
Nice! That's definitely unexpected for a sub-2hr flight these days!
Funny how the only difference between J and Y is that the J seats are a nicer model with headrests, but still in that same 2-2 configuration. E-Jets are always a crapshoot in J on European carriers...some block the adjacent seat like on larger narrowbodies, but that ultimately means blocking off half the seats in the cabin, as opposed to 1/3 on a 737/32S, so a lot like FB and KL leave the 2-2 config in J. In Y E-jets are always a comfortable ride, though, as the seats are usually wider than on 737/32S.
Overall, looks like a decent product from Bulgaria Air, especially for the price.
Enjoyed the exotic planespotting. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by Kevin! You are right about Barney... ? It is funny that the seats are in the same config, but at least there was an empty. It's interesting to note that Bulgaria Air offers a real J product on their A319s (LZ-FBB, at least). Hope to see you another report soon!