Ural Airlines
Ural Airlines is an airline based in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, that operates scheduled and chartered domestic and international flights out of Koltsovo International Airport. In 2018, the company transported nine million passengers.
Overview
The airline was founded in 1943 as Sverdlovsk State Air Enterprises, and later became part of Aeroflot, the Soviet state airline, being in charge of Yekaterinburg Airport. Following the split-up of Aeroflot, Ural Airlines became a joint stock company incorporated under the laws of the Russian Federation on 28 December 1993, and the airline business was separated from the airport.In 2010, Ural Airlines retired all of its Antonov An-24s, Ilyushin Il-86s and Tupolev Tu-154B-2s. The airline's Tupolev Tu-154M, in 164-seat two-class configuration, was retired on October 16, 2011.
Ural Airlines has 3348 employees. The technical base of the airline is one of the biggest and most modern in Russia. Its technical equipment and experienced engineers allow Ural Airlines to provide necessary services in-house. In 2012, the airline opened its training complex for pilots. The system of training for Airbus A320 was 7.5 million euro. The complex included the construction works too, with 9 million euros.
The airline also plans to buy the training complex for the Airbus A330-300.
In 2017, Skytrax gave Ural Airlines 3 stars, which made it the fourth airline with three stars in Russia and CIS after S7 Airlines, Uzbekistan Airlines and Air Moldova.
Currently, main hubs of Ural Airlines are Moscow-Domodedovo and Yekaterinburg. Ural Airlines has plans to increase its number of hubs, by developing hubs at Moscow-Sheremetyevo and Moscow-Zhukovsky.
In 2020, flights to commenced to Russian-occupied Crimea.
Corporate affairs
A million passengers per year was first achieved in 2006. Since then, the airline and its passenger numbers have both grown. In 2013, the airline transported 4.419 million passengers, the sixth most in Russia that year.Year | Amount |
2018 | 9.001 million |
2017 | 8.000 million |
2016 | 6.467 million |
2015 | 5.445 million |
2014 | 5.161 million |
2013 | 4.419 million |
2012 | 3.525 million |
2011 | 2.513 million |
2010 | 1.792 million |
2009 | 1.497 million |
2008 | 1.450 million |
2007 | 1.217 million |
2006 | 1.011 million |
2005 | 0.909 million |
Destinations
Codeshare agreements
Ural Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:- Azerbaijan Airlines
- Belavia
- Czech Airlines
- KLM
- S7 Airlines
- Uzbekistan Airways
Fleet
Current fleet
, the Ural Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:Ural Airlines also started considering updating its fleet with newer Airbus A320neo family or Boeing 737 Next Generation and is still considering purchasing Airbus A330. It took delivery of its first Airbus A320neo in August 2019. The airline also considered purchasing Irkut MC-21s, but the plans were probably withdrawn. Lately, Ural Airlines announced the purchase of 2 Airbus A321neoLR, that will be delivered in 2019, with a possible replacement of older Airbus A321-200.
The airline moved up its plans to increase its fleet size from 43 to 50 in 2018, moving up its original plans to do so by 2020.
Retired fleet
Aircraft | Total | Year Introduced | Year Retired | Notes |
Antonov An-12 | 2 | 1992 | 1998 | Accepted from Aeroflot's break up. |
Antonov An-24 | 2 | 1992 | 2006 | Retired from the re-branding of the airline. |
Ilyushin Il-86 | 4 | 2010 | One was leased from Siberia Airlines. It was the only wide-body aircraft in the airline's fleet. | |
Tupolev Tu-154B | 3 | 2006 | Retired from the re-branding of the airline. | |
Tupolev Tu-154M | 5 | 2011 | The last Soviet-built aircraft. |
Accidents and incidents
- On 15 August 2019, Ural Airlines Flight 178, an Airbus A321 registered as VQ-BOZ, was scheduled to fly from Zhukovsky International Airport to Simferopol. 226 passengers and 7 crew were on board. The aircraft suffered a bird strike shortly after takeoff and made an emergency landing in a cornfield less than from the runway with its landing gear up. Although 74 passengers sought medical treatment, only 1 major injury occurred, and all passengers survived.