Bunavad (Bunavad: the Bulgarian National Aeronautical Public Equity Company) was the first national airline of Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. The airline was conceived in late 1926, operated scheduled services between major Bulgarian cities from October 1927 and closed in 1930.

Bunavad's post-War successors were the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications' Air Communications Administration (the DVS) which operated under the acronym BVS (Bulgarian: БВС, Български въздушни съобщения) and which in time developed into TABSO and its successors.

History

In 1926 the Bulgarian government contracted with the German Junkers

Junkers

Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG , more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers,...

 aircraft manufacturing company to assist in the formation of an airline and in its being equipped with Junkers airliners. The agreement provided for the state to facilitate certain loans towards the purchase of airliners and to disburse certain funds towards the opening of air services. It was formally signed on 22 November 1926.

During 1927 private Bulgarian business interests led by Dr Dimitar Tochkov as Director did form the Bunavad airline. Bunavad ordered two examples of the then-popular Junkers F.13

Junkers F.13

The Junkers F.13 was the world's first all-metal transport aircraft, developed in Germany at the end of World War I. It was an advanced cantilever-wing monoplane, with enclosed accommodation for four passengers. Over 300 were sold...

 for collection later that year. From the outset, Bunavad offered both passenger and mail/freight services. Bulgaria's first airmail postage stamps duly appeared on sale on 7 November 1927.

An inauguration ceremony for the airline and its first scheduled air service, between Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, Ruse, and Varna

Varna

Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

, was held at Sofia Bozhurishte

Bozhurishte

Bozhurishte is a town in western Bulgaria. It is the administrative center of Bozhurishte Municipality in Sofia Province; close to Kostinbrod and the capital Sofia. The old airport of Sofia, now a military one, is near the town. Bozhurishte was first mentioned in 1750...

 Airport on 25 October 1927. The Bulgarian government was represented by Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Kimon Georgiev

Kimon Georgiev

Colonel General Kimon Georgiev Stoyanov was a Bulgarian general and prime minister.Born at Pazardzhik, Kimon Georgiev graduated from the Sofia military academy in 1902. He participated in the Balkan Wars as a company commander and in the First World War as a commander of a battalion. In 1916 he...

, until recently Minister of Railways and Posts, whose title had been restyled for the occasion to Minister of Railways, Posts, and Aeronautics. His German counterpart was renowned air pioneer Fritz Horn of the Junkers company, who had arrived in a Junkers G.23. Also present were the then-Mayor of Sofia Reserve General Vladimir Vazov

Vladimir Vazov

Vladimir Minchev Vazov was a Bulgarian officer. He led the Bulgarian forces during the successful defensive operation at Dojran during the First World War.-Biography:...

, Sofia Metropolitan Bishop Stefan, Konstantsa, wife of then-Prime Minister Andrey Lyapchev, the press, and many members of the public.

Bunavad's two Junkers F.13s were christened at the ceremony, with Mrs Georgieva dedicating B-BUNA with the name Lastovitsa (Bulgarian: „Ластовица”, meaning "Swallow") and Mrs Lyapcheva dedicating B-BUNB with the name Sokol (Bulgarian: „Соколъ”, meaning "Falcon"). The aircraft then performed demonstration flights for the press and public, after which B-BUNA departed on the airline's first scheduled service. Its three passengers were met at Varna by Metropolitan Bishop Simeon and a large crowd of wellwishers.

After the Sofia-Ruse-Varna (and vice-versa) service, Bunavad opened a service between Vidin

Vidin

Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...

, Ruse, and Varna and also between Sofia, Plovdiv

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...

, and Burgas

Burgas

-History:During the rule of the Ancient Romans, near Burgas, Debeltum was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pyrgos was erected where Burgas is today and was most probably used as a watchtower...

 (some sources claim Sofia-Burgas with no intermediate stop).

In late 1929, the Junkers company was forced to withdraw from the 1926 agreement due to the effects of the Great Depression. Bunavad continued operating amid drastically worsened business conditions until forced to wind-up on an unknown date in 1930.. Being a defeated power in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Bulgaria was largely stripped of the right to have its own aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 by the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine. This, added to the paucity of intergovernmental arrangements, largely put paid to any international services that might have been conceived by Bunavad or putative other Bulgarian airlines.

Infrastructure

Burgas was the only one of the cities served by Bunavad to have established a fully functioning international airport prior to the airline's formation. A modest passenger and mail terminal opened at Sofia's Bozhurishte Airport to serve Bunavad and others in 1927. The city of Varna also opened a facility in time for Bunavad's launch; it was subsequently moved to another site. All other terminal facilities were newly instituted for the new airline's operations.

Bunavad rented a headquarters at Sofia's central Bulevard Dondukov and had booking offices at two locations in central Sofia and in each serviced city. The airline rented hangarage facilities at Sofia's Bozhurishte Airfield, restyled Airport in honour of its formation.

Routes

• Sofia - Ruse - Varna and vice-versa
• Vidin - Ruse - Varna & v. v.
• Sofia - Plovdiv - Burgas & v. v.