| Airline: | Air VIA Ер Виа |
| Fleet Size: | 2 |
| Destinations: | 26 |
| Iata: | VL |
| Icao: | VIM |
| Callsign: | CRYSTAL |
| Founded: | 1990 |
| Ceased: | 2016 |
| Headquarters: | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Key People: | Tom De Geytere, Ralf Nagel |
| Bases: | |
| Revenue: | €43.9 million (2016)[1] |
| Net Income: | -€0.5 million (2016)[2] |
| Website: | air-via.com |
Air VIA was a charter airline with its head office in Sofia, Bulgaria,[3] that operated charter flights on behalf of European tour operators. Most Air VIA flights operated from European destinations into Varna Airport and Burgas Airport, the airline also offered wet lease subservices.[4]
The airline was founded and started operations in 1990 as Varna International Airways. The company is licensed and certified according to the national and European standards for non-regular transport of passengers. In 1990, Air VIA started operations with five new Tupolev TU-154M. After the airline was founded by a group of private Bulgarian investors the company initially performed charter flights for Bulgarian and leading European tour operators such as Neckermann, TUI Travel, Jetairfly and Prodintour to and from Bulgarian seaside resorts.
In 2005, Air VIA's management decided to completely change the fleet due to the ever growing competition, EU regulations, environmental responsibility, increasing fuel prices and higher customer requirements. In summer 2006, Air VIA started to operate the Airbus A320 family and phased out the dated Tupolev 154. On 28 August 2015, prior to its demise, Air Via added its first Airbus A321-200 to its fleet.[5]
In 2016, Air VIA ceased flight operations.[6]
Air Via mainly operated charter flights between the Bulgarian seaside airports Burgas and Varna and countries in Western Europe and the Middle East.
, the Air VIA fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[7] [8]
| Aircraft | In Service | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | Wet leased to Enter Air[9] | ||
| Airbus A321-200 | |||