Bulgaria Air parent to issue $9.3mn bond; announces Dubai

Bulgarian Airways Group, the owner of flag carrier Bulgaria Air (FB, Sofia), announced in a stock exchange filing on January 15 that it would issue a seven-year BGN15 million lev (USD9.28 million) bond. The 15,000 unsecured bonds with a nominal value of BGN1,000 (USD619) each will carry a coupon of 3.7% interest, due every six months. Following a two-year grace period, the issuance will be repaid in ten instalments of BGN1.5 million (USD928,000). According to local media, Bulgarian Airways Group placed an almost identical bond in February 2019, also a seven-year BGN15 million issue but carrying a coupon of 3.6%. The group holds a 99.99% stake in Bulgaria Air and majority stakes several other companies and minority stakes in the Bulgarian branches of Amadeus IT Group, Lufthansa Technik, Swissport, and catering firm Silver Wings. In related news, Bulgaria Air has announced it will launch a route from Sofia to Dubai Int’l, 3x weekly, starting April 30, using one of its two A319-100s. It will be its inaugural Gulf destination. It also announced this week that all of its flights from Sofia to Milan Malpensa will land instead at Milan Linate from February 2, explaining that Linate is closer to the city centre. It currently operates to Malpensa 1x weekly, according to the ch-aviation capacities module. However, the airline has postponed its planned resumption of flights to Moscow Sheremetyevo, which will now launch on March 28 as a 3x weekly route expanding to 4x weekly from May 3.