Azur Air
Azur Air (Russian: Азур Эйр), formerly Katekavia and stylised as azurair, is a charter airline and former regional airline in Russia. Initially it was based out of Krasnoyarsk Cheremshanka Airport, the domestic airport serving Krasnoyarsk, and its destinations were all within the Krasnoyarsk Krai.[1] Nowadays it mainly serves leisure and some domestic destinations.
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| Founded | 1992 (as Katekavia) 17 Dec 2014 (re-branded to Azur Air) | ||||||
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| Hubs | Vnukovo International Airport | ||||||
| Subsidiaries | Azur Air Ukraine | ||||||
| Fleet size | 32 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia | ||||||
| Key people | Alexander Zosymov, General Director | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
History
Katekavia
The airline started operations in 1995 and operates regional flights out of Krasnoyarsk Cheremshanka Airport and Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo Airport.[2][3] The airline also operates charter services to Siberia and Yakutia. It carried around 122,000 passengers in 2009,[4] and in 2010 started to acquire larger aircraft, mainly the Tupolev Tu-134. As of 3 April 2014, it had three Tupolev Tu-134s.[3]
In April 2014 the airline commenced scheduled flights between larger Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo Airport and further cities in Siberia: Surgut and Tomsk. The airline received international media and social media attention in 2014, when a video emerged of passengers on a scheduled flight from Igarka to Krasnoyarsk disembarking pre-departure to push their plane in temperatures of minus 52 degrees Celsius after its chassis froze.[5]
Azur Air
In 2015, Katekavia handed over its fleet to Turukhan Airlines. Katekavia was rebranded as a leisure carrier and renamed Azur Air.[6][7] In December 2015, it has been confirmed that former owner UTair Aviation sold Azur Air to Turkish tourism company Anex Tourism Group[8] which also bought Azur Air Ukraine, the former UTair-Ukraine, a few weeks earlier.[8]
In February 2018, the Russian aviation authority RosAviatsiya announced that Azur Air faces a suspension of its operational licence by 20 March 2018 if the carrier does not resolve alleged safety violations by then. As this would lead to the shut down of all flight operations, Russian tourism agency RosTourism advised tour operators to not sell tickets on Azur Air for the time being.[9] All restrictions by RosAviatsiya and RosTourism were lifted on 20 March 2018 as a result of controls on technical and documental details.
Destinations
As of November 2020, Azur Air operates to the following destinations:[10][11]
Fleet
_Azur_Air_(Bears_livery)_DME_UUDD_3_(42785064912).jpg.webp)
The Azur Air fleet consists of the following aircraft as of January 2021:[13]
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Y | Total | ||||
| Boeing 737-800 | 4 | — | — | 189 | 189 | 1 aircraft is currently stored |
| Boeing 737-900ER | 2 | — | — | 215 | 215 | 1 aircraft is currently stored |
| Boeing 757-200 | 9 | — | — | 238 | 238 | 4 aircraft are currently stored |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 12 | 1 | — | 336 | 336 | 6 aircraft are currently stored |
| Boeing 777-300ER | 1 | — | 42 | 386 | 428 | 3 aircraft are currently stored |
| 4 | — | 7 | 524 | 531 | ||
| Total | 32 | 1 | ||||
Accidents and incidents
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- On 3 August 2010, a Katekavia Antonov An-24 crashed on approach to Igarka Airport, killing twelve people. The crash was caused by pilot error. As a result of the crash, the Russian government started to investigate how Katekavia operated their flights.[14]
See also
References
- "Авиакомпания "КАТЭКАВИА": регулярные и чартерные перевозки по России, доставка грузов, самолёты в аренду". Katekavia.ru. 4 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- "Katekavia". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
- "russianplanes.net ✈ наша авиация". russianplanes.net. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- Death toll in Russia's East Siberia passenger jet crash rises to 12 (Update-4), RIAN, 2 August 2010
- "Passengers forced to push their frozen plane in Siberia". Retrieved 27 November 2014.
- http://www.ato.ru/content/aviakompaniya-turuhan-zavershila-formirovanie-samoletnogo-parka
- "Siberian Sun". Airliner World: 8. July 2015.
- ch-aviation.com - Russia's UTair Group offloads Azur Air unit to Turkey's ATG 7 December 2015
- ch-aviation.com - Russia's tourism body warns against selling Azur Air tickets 27 February 2018
- "Fight map". azurair.com. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
- "Flights". anextour.com. 14 July 2018.
- "Russian charter Azur Air to start flights to China". atwonline. 27 July 2016.
- "Azur Air Fleet". planespotters.net.
- "Crash: Katekavia AN24 at Igarka on Aug 3rd 2010, impacted ground short of runway". Aviation Herald. 2 August 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
