Bulgaria Ski discussion board

I am due to fly to on Saturday by scheduled arirline from Gatwick. I have just phoned Balkan Holidays and Bulgaria Air regarding the rumours of striking pilots. The response was;

1. Balkan Holidays - They had not heard about the problem until I phoned. They are looking into it and will ring me back later. I will post the result of that conversation to the thread later on.

2. Bulgaria air - After a slight pause I was informed that there are indeed problems and there is a "slight" chance that flights may be cancelled. Negotiations are ongoing and nobody is sure of the outcome or indeed when they may be concluded.

When asked what provision was being made in the event that flights would not be taking off they stated that they would do all they could but would not guarantee anything. I suspect they are making no provision to charter aircraft ifn case their aircraft are unable to fly. They will ring me later with an update.

I will post any furhter information here and anybody on the scheduled flights need to keep just about everything crossed for Saturday.

Neil

Neil,
this is from Standart News today:
take a look at last sentence..

greetings
Tanjette

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Bulgaria Air Pilots Brace Themselves Up for Resignations

Pilots from Bulgaria Air national flag-carrier drafted their resignations. Till late at night yesterday, they discussed on whether to table their resignations in token of support for their laid-off 15 colleagues. Of a total of 58 pilots, only three signed the offered annexes to an increase in their salaries and 15 members of the Union of Civil Aviation Pilots were fired. In violation of the group contract, they will be indemnified for one instead of three months, the pilots complained. However, 30 of the pilots have 3-year contracts on not leaving the company, as Bulgaria Air has invested 20,000 euros in the training of each of them. In case they resign, they will have to pay the money back, according to the managers.
Today, the staff is expected to demand the resignation of the Board of Directors of Bulgaria Air. The pilots insist on acquiring 10 percent in the capital of the company, and a share of 10 percent to be put on the stock exchange, in order to assess the market value of Bulgaria Air. The management of the company, emerging from a drawn-out meeting with Minister of Transport and Communications, Nikolay Vassilev, said they once again invited the pilots to come back the negotiating table.
It is pointless to say that it is our ministry that slows down the company in a moment when Bulgaria Air reports growth and a record high in terms of profits over the last two years, said Minister Vassilev.

He said further that it was unknown whether charter flights would be lost.

Belcho Tsanev

Gaffy is right about the charter flights. They should be totally unaffected by this.

As un update I have just spoken to Balkan Holidays again. They believe the chances of the scheduled flight being cancelled are slim and lets hope they are right. On the face of it neither Bulgaria Air or Balkan Holidays are making any contingency plans should the worst happen.

The departures manager has promised to phone me with an update before the end of the day which I will post here. Lets hope the airline can sort things out by the close of play today.

Neil

Gaffy is right about the charter flights. They should be totally unaffected by this.

As un update I have just spoken to Balkan Holidays again. They believe the chances of the scheduled flight being cancelled are slim and lets hope they are right. On the face of it neither Bulgaria Air or Balkan Holidays are making any contingency plans should the worst happen.

The departures manager has promised to phone me with an update before the end of the day which I will post here. Lets hope the airline can sort things out by the close of play today.

Neil