Balkan Bulgarian Airlines

If you stood at a European airport in the 1970s or 1980s, you know the sound: the roar of a Tu-154 with its three rear engines, the “Balkan” titles on the fuselage, a registration with LZ- on the tail. Balkan Bulgarian Airlines was Bulgaria’s state airline, one of the most loyal customers of Soviet aircraft manufacturing and, for many vacationers, the ticket to the Black Sea coast. In 2002, after more than half a century of Bulgarian state aviation, it was over. Here you will learn where the airline came from, which aircraft it flew and how to recognize it on old photos.

Balkan at a glance

Balkan Bulgarian Airlines was Bulgaria’s state-owned airline, headquartered and hubbed in Sofia. Its history begins in 1947 with the first flight of state air transport from Sofia to Burgas, continues from 1949 with the Bulgarian-Soviet TABSO and leads in 1968 to the name Balkan. Officially, the company was called Balkan Bulgarian Air Transport; in everyday use, people said Balkan Bulgarian Airlines or simply Balkan.

Typical of Balkan was its dual role: on one hand a scheduled airline of an Eastern Bloc state with a surprisingly wide network reaching Africa, the Middle East and Asia, on the other a leisure airline that brought vacationers from East and West to the Black Sea coast. In addition, Balkan also ran special flights for decades, for example with agricultural aircraft and helicopters.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code LZ: appeared before the flight numbers, on tickets and departure boards.
• ICAO code LAZ: identifier in the air traffic control flight plan.
• Callsign BALKAN: this is how crews identified themselves on the radio.

A neat mnemonic for your archive: the IATA code LZ matches the Bulgarian registration prefix LZ-. Still, you shouldn’t mix the two up – one appears in the flight number, the other on the aircraft. Today’s Bulgaria Air, by the way, flies with its own codes, not with LZ. How IATA and ICAO codes relate is explained in the article on IATA and ICAO codes.

History: from TABSO to Balkan

The beginnings after the war (1947–1949)

After the Second World War, Bulgaria built up a state air transport system. On June 29, 1947, the first flight took off from Sofia via Plovdiv to Burgas – with a Junkers Ju 52, the rugged three-engine aircraft whose story is told in the article Junkers Ju 52. Soon afterward, Lisunov Li-2s were added, the Soviet licensed version of the Douglas DC-3.

TABSO: the Bulgarian-Soviet joint airline (1949–1968)

Under Soviet influence, this became a Bulgarian-Soviet joint airline that operated as TABSO from 1949. The Soviet side contributed aircraft, the Bulgarian side airports, buildings and personnel. In 1954, Bulgaria bought back the Soviet shares, and TABSO was purely state-owned from then on. From 1956, Ilyushin Il-14s flew, and in 1962 the Ilyushin Il-18 arrived as the first turboprop for long routes – with it, TABSO reached destinations far outside Europe.

This period also includes an episode that affected many West German vacationers: in the late 1960s, the charter company Bulair was created, which flew mainly vacationers from Western Europe, including from the Federal Republic, to the Black Sea coast at Varna and Burgas. In the early 1970s, Bulair was dissolved again, and its aircraft went to the state airline. The difference between charter and scheduled business is explained in Charter flights and scheduled flights.

Balkan and the era of the Tupolev jets (1968–1989)

In 1968, the airline received the name Balkan. In the same year, it put its first jet into service, the Tupolev Tu-134, making it the first foreign customer of the type; one of the first routes led from Sofia to London. In 1972, the Tu-154 followed – here too, Balkan was among the first operators outside the Soviet Union. The fleet was supplemented by small Yak-40s for domestic routes, An-24 turboprops and An-12 freighters.

The route network grew considerably. According to English Wikipedia, Balkan flew to 22 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia around 1970, and in the 1970s further destinations in Africa and Asia were added. At the end of the 1980s, the airline carried about three million passengers a year according to these figures – roughly equally split between domestic, charter and international scheduled service. In 1988, Balkan joined IATA. How the Soviet types of this time developed is shown in Soviet airliners.

This era also includes serious accidents. In 1966, a TABSO Il-18 crashed near Bratislava, killing 82 people. In January 1971, an Il-18 crashed in fog on approach to Zurich, killing 45 people. On March 16, 1978, Tu-134 LZ-TUB crashed near Gabare – with 73 fatalities the worst aviation accident in Bulgaria’s history. In 1984, another Tu-134 crashed in blowing snow on approach to Sofia.

The fall of communism and the turn to the West (1989–1999)

With the end of the Eastern Bloc, everything changed. In 1990, the regional airline Hemus Air was split off as a second state airline, private competitors entered the market, and state subsidies fell away. Balkan responded with Western equipment: from 1990, Boeing 737-500s flew, and in 1991 Airbus A320s and two Boeing 767-200ERs leased from Air France were added. The 767s went back to Air France by 1998, the A320s to other lessees. Later, Boeing 737-300s and, at the end of 1999, two ATR 42s supplemented the fleet. The Tu-154 nevertheless remained the backbone.

Privatization and end (1999–2002)

In 1999, the Bulgarian government sold the majority of Balkan to an Israeli consortium around the Zeevi Group; initially, the parent company of Arkia was also involved. The purchase price was symbolically low, tied to investment commitments. The plan did not work out: in early 2001, the owner stopped financing, Balkan had to suspend flight operations temporarily and was placed under receivership. In 2002, the airline sold takeoff and landing slots at London Heathrow to British Airways. In fall 2002, creditors rejected a restructuring plan and voted for dissolution.

The state reacted quickly: a newly founded company took over operations and started on December 4, 2002 – at first briefly as Balkan Air Tour, then as Bulgaria Air. Balkan thus joins the list of Eastern European state airlines that did not survive the transition to a market economy; more on this in Major airline failures in Europe.

Balkan and Germany

For German spotters, Balkan was visible from two directions. In the West, the airline flew scheduled service to Frankfurt and brought vacationers to the Bulgarian coast on charters. In the East, Balkan was part of everyday life: in the 1980s, charter flights departed from Berlin-Schönefeld, Dresden, Erfurt and Leipzig to Burgas and Varna – alongside the East German state airline Interflug, whose history is told in detail in the article Interflug. If you leaf through photo albums from East German vacations, you will not infrequently find a Tu-154 with an LZ registration on the apron in Burgas.

Region	Destinations (selection)	Note
Bulgaria	Sofia, Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv	After 1989 only the international airports
Germany	Frankfurt, Berlin, charter from East German airports	Important charter and scheduled market
Western Europe	London, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Zurich, Stockholm	Scheduled service
Middle East and Africa	Cairo, Damascus, Beirut, Tripoli, Lagos, Accra	Traditionally strong markets
Asia	Bangkok, Colombo, Malé	Long-haul routes, for a long time with the Tu-154

The table summarizes destinations from different decades, not a single schedule.

The fleet

Balkan’s fleet reflects Bulgaria’s political history: first Soviet, then mixed. English Wikipedia’s fleet overview gives 54 aircraft each for 1970 and 1980, about 69 for 1990 and 44 for 2000 – including small aircraft for agricultural and special missions.

Type	Period	Use	Spotter note
Lisunov Li-2	from the late 1940s	First scheduled flights	Soviet DC-3 license
Ilyushin Il-14	from 1956	Domestic and Europe	Twin-engine piston-engine classic
Ilyushin Il-18	from 1962	Medium and long-haul	Four-engine turboprop, Balkan flew it for a very long time
Tupolev Tu-134	from 1968, retired in the 1990s	Europe	First jet; Balkan was the first export customer
Tupolev Tu-154	from 1972	Backbone on medium and long-haul	Around 2000 still over 20 examples of the B and M versions
Yakovlev Yak-40	from 1974	Domestic	Small three-engine jet
Antonov An-24 and An-12	from the 1960s	Regional service and freight, respectively	High-wing
Boeing 737-300/-500	from 1990	Europe	First Western jets
Airbus A320	1991 until 1998 at the latest	Europe	Later passed on
Boeing 767-200ER	1991 until 1998 at the latest	Long-haul	Leased from Air France

The manufacturers of the Soviet fleet included Tupolev and Antonov. For agricultural and special missions, Balkan also used small aircraft and helicopters, and around 2000 also the Czech Let L-410.

Tu-154: the face of the airline

No type shaped Balkan as much as the Tu-154. With three engines at the rear, a T-tail and the distinctive landing gear fairings on the wings, it is instantly recognizable even on blurry photos. Over the years, Balkan flew several versions, lastly the B and the modernized M version, and used it for a long time on long-haul routes too – according to English Wikipedia, the airline skipped buying the Il-62. How to tell the Tu-154B and Tu-154M apart is on the type page.

Tu-134 and Il-18: the classics before it

The Tu-134 with its glazed nose was Balkan’s first jet and, for a time, the workhorse on European routes. The Il-18, by contrast, stayed in the fleet for a surprisingly long time: even around 2000, the fleet list still carried individual examples. For fans of old turboprops, it is one of the most sought-after archive subjects today. You will find tips for such vintage aircraft under Recognizing vintage aircraft in the sky.

How to recognize Balkan

The surest feature is the registration. Bulgarian aircraft carry the prefix LZ-, at Balkan for example LZ-TUB on a Tu-134 or LZ-BED on an Il-18. The fuselage carried the name “Balkan”; on photos from before 1968, you read TABSO instead. The livery changed several times over the decades – so pay attention above all to titles, registration and type.

A second clue is the type in combination with the year: a Tu-154 with an LZ registration in the 1970s and 1980s can almost only belong to Balkan. After 1990, it gets trickier, because private Bulgarian airlines also flew Soviet types with LZ registrations. For Western types, a look at the titles helps, especially on leased aircraft with remnants of the previous owner’s livery; more on this in Recognizing hybrid and mixed liveries.

Balkan in the Eastern Bloc context

Balkan belonged to a family of state airlines that were all similarly equipped: Aeroflot as the big brother, plus Interflug in East Germany, Malév in Hungary, TAROM in Romania, ČSA in Czechoslovakia and LOT in Poland. The Yugoslav JAT and the Cuban Cubana also used Soviet types. Interflug, Malév and Balkan have in common that they did not survive the years after the fall of communism – only their successors or sister airlines fly on today.

Common mix-ups

• Equating Balkan and Bulgaria Air – Bulgaria Air is a company newly founded in 2002 with its own codes.
• Seeing TABSO and Balkan as two airlines – it is the same airline under different names.
• Mixing up the IATA code and the registration – at Balkan, LZ appears both in the flight number and on the aircraft, but means two different things.
• Attributing every Bulgarian Tu-154 to Balkan – after 1990, other Bulgarian airlines also flew Soviet types.
• Mixing up the Tu-134 and Tu-154 – the Tu-134 has two engines at the rear and usually a glazed nose, the Tu-154 three.

Conclusion

For decades, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines was the flagship of Bulgarian aviation. From the state air transport of 1947 and the Bulgarian-Soviet TABSO, an airline emerged in 1968 that, as an early customer of the Tu-134 and Tu-154, built a wide network and brought millions of vacationers to the Black Sea coast. After the fall of communism, Balkan tried a fresh start with Boeing and Airbus, but debts and a failed privatization ended this story in 2002. For spotters, what remains is an airline that can be assigned well on archive photos thanks to the LZ registration, the Balkan titles and the Tupolev fleet.