Red Wings Airlines

Red Wings Airlines is a Russian airline based in Zhukovsky International Airport. The airline provides both scheduled passenger and cargo services.

History

Red Wings was founded in 1999 under the name VARZ-400, after the Russian acronym of the Vnukovo Avia Repair Factory. It was renamed Airlines 400 in 2001, before adopting its current name in 2007.

The airline was owned by Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev, who wanted to create a discount airline using modern Russian Tupolev Tu-204-100B 210-passenger twin-jet airliners, both newly built and used. The company had a fleet of ten Tu-204-100Bs (an eleventh Tu-204 was written off after crashing at Vnukovo International Airport on 29 December 2012), and had also sought to acquire Airbus A320s and possibly Airbus A321s to complement its Tu-204 fleet."Red Wings considers A321s as suitable A320s prove elusive", Flight International, Retrieved 24 August 2008

Lebedev also owned 49% of German charter airline Blue Wings, which was to become Red Wings's sister company. However, on 13 January 2010, Blue Wings ceased all operations and filed for bankruptcy, citing the 2008 financial crisis for a reduction in investors.

After the crash of Flight 9268 in Vnukovo, Russian aviation authorities initiated an emergency check of airline operational activities and fleet maintenance, resulting in the revocation of the carrier's AOC, effective on 4 February 2013. The airline had ceased all operations the day before and owner Alexander Lebedev announced that no return to operation was planned."http://www.favt.ru/favt_new/?q=novosti/novosti/novost/3031 "

On 4 April 2013, NRC sold Red Wings Airlines Group "Guta" for one symbolic ruble (in this case, leased aircraft remained with the lessor NRC-owned company Ilyushin Finance). The new owners of Red Wings planned to increase the fleet to 10–15 aircraft; the airline was only going to buy Russian aircraft. On 25 April 2013, Red Wings announced it would be headed by Sergey Belov—the previous CEO of the airline "Russia". On 18 June 2013, the Federal Air Transport Agency renewed Red Wings' commercial passenger and cargo transportation certificate. On 22 June, the airline resumed charter flights, and on 12 July, scheduled flights from Moscow.

To increase their business power, Red Wings and Nordavia decided to merge. But while the process was initiated, a date for finalization of the merger or clarification of the two airlines' future business relationship and branding identities was never announced. The plan called for Airbus A320 aircraft initially ordered by Nordavia to be delivered to Red Wings. The new brand name was to be announced after the completion of the merger.

In 2016 Ilyushin Finance acquired a 74% stake in Red Wings.Red Wings Deal Completed Airliner World March 2016 page 8 In 2017 this was increased to 100%.Russian reguator okays IFC takeover of Red Wings ch-aviation 2 January 2027

On 20 September 2018, Red Wings announced its re-branding; the first aircraft to arrive with the updated livery was to be the Airbus A321, set to arrive by the end of 2018.

In August 2021, Red Wings signed their first personal services 20-year contract to the value of 500 million dollars with United Aircraft Corporation in order to technical support of SSJ100 engines. Before, only the engine's manufacturer, PowerJet company, could carry the right to sign any technical support contracts with air companies directly.

In 2022, Red Wings was added to the List of airlines banned in the European Union along with all other Russian airlines due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Destinations CountryCityAirportNotesRef Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport Manama Bahrain International Airport Minsk Minsk National Airport Beijing Beijing Capital International Airport Hangzhou Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport Ürümqi Ürümqi Tianshan International Airport Hurghada Hurghada International Airport Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh International Airport Belfort Belfort–Fontaine Aerodrome Batumi Alexander Kartveli Batumi International Airport Tbilisi Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport Tel Aviv David Ben Gurion Airport Almaty Almaty International Airport Aqtau Aqtau International Airport Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport Bishkek Manas International Airport Osh Osh Airport Abakan Abakan International Airport Astrakhan Narimanovo Airport Barnaul Barnaul Airport Chelyabinsk Kurchatov Chelyabinsk International Airport Chita Chita-Kadala International Airport Gorno-Altaysk Gorno-Altaysk Airport Grozny Kadyrov Grozny International Airport Irkutsk International Airport Irkutsk Izhevsk Izhevsk Airport Kazan Ğabdulla Tuqay Kazan International Airport Kemerovo Kemerovo International Airport Krasnodar Krasnodar International Airport Makhachkala Uytash Airport Moscow Moscow Domodedovo Airport Sheremetyevo International Airport Vnukovo International Airport Zhukovsky International Airport Murmansk Murmansk Airport Nizhnekamsk Begishevo Airport Nizhnevartovsk Nizhnevartovsk Airport Nizhny Novgorod Strigino International Airport Norilsk Alykel International Airport Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport Novokuznetsk Spichenkovo Airport Novy Urengoy Novy Urengoy Airport Omsk Omsk Central Airport Orenburg Orenburg Airport Perm Bolshoye Savino Airport Saint Petersburg Pulkovo Airport Samara Kurumoch International Airport Saransk Saransk Airport Saratov Saratov Gagarin Airport Sochi Sochi International Airport Stavropol Stavropol Shpakovskoye Airport Surgut Farman Salmanov Surgut Airport Tyumen Roshchino International Airport Ufa Mostay Kərim Ufa International Airport Ulan-Ude Baikal International Airport Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk Baratayevka Airport Volgograd Volgograd International Airport Yaroslavl Golden Ring Yaroslavl International Airport Yekaterinburg Koltsovo International Airport Hambantota Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport Dushanbe Dushanbe International Airport Phuket Phuket International Airport Antalya Antalya Airport Istanbul Istanbul Airport Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport Dubai Al Maktoum International Airport Bukhara Bukhara International Airport Namangan Namangan Airport Tashkent Tashkent International Airport Urgench Urgench International Airport Nha Trang Cam Ranh International Airport Codeshare agreements Currently, Red Wings Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines: Air France Belavia Smartavia Ural Airlines

Fleet

Current fleet

, Red Wings Airlines operates the following aircraft: + Red Wings Airlines fleetAircraftIn serviceOrdersPassengersNotesJYTotalBoeing 777-200ER 3——412412Sukhoi Superjet 100-952238—100100Overall order of 60 aircraft.Tupolev Tu-2145——194194Used for international flights.Yakovlev MC-21-300—16TBATotal2754

Retired fleet Red Wings Airlines previously also operated the following types of aircraft: Airbus A320-200 Airbus A321-200 Ilyushin Il-76 Tupolev Tu-154 Tupolev Tu-204-100

Accidents and incidents On 29 December 2012, at 16:35 local time (12:35 GMT), Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268, a Tupolev Tu-204-100В (Registration: RA-64047, c/n: 1450743164047, s/n: 047, built: 2008) crashed on landing after overrunning Runway 19 at Vnukovo International Airport (VKO) following a non-revenue repositioning flight originating from Pardubice Airport, Czech Republic. The aircraft broke up and came to a stop on elevated highway M3 about past the runway's end. There were eight crew members on board of whom five were killed and the other three seriously injured. The fatal Vnukovo accident was the second runway overrun incident involving a Red Wings operated Tu-204-100B in nine days following a Moscow Vnukovo to Novosibirsk flight on 20 December 2012 that overran Runway 25 at Tolmachevo Airport by into an open field. Initial flight data recorder readouts indicate that brake failure, as well as engine thrust reverser issues, were major contributing causes in both overruns resulting in the issuance of additional airworthiness directives.Hradecky, Simon "Accident: Red Wings T204 at Moscow on Dec 29th 2012, overran runway on landing" The Aviation Herald, 29 December 2012. (updated 31 December 2012).Hradecky, Simon "Incident: Red Wings T204 at Novosibirsk on Dec 20th 2012, runway excursion on landing" The Aviation Herald 20 December 2012 (updated 30 December 2012)Bad brakes cited in Moscow crash landing Agence France-Presse (via NDTV.com) 30 December 2012Kaminski-Morrow, David "Tu-204 directive warns pilots to check thrust-reverse status" Flightglobal.com, 2 January 2013 Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) later determined that, as in the precursor non-fatal overrun incident in Novosibirsk, the fatal Moscow accident was caused by a failure of the compression switches in two of the three landing gear assemblies to close on touchdown thus causing the engine thrust reverser shells to fail to deploy."Tu-204 Red Wings crash in Vnukovo was caused by reverse failure – Interstate Aviation Committee" Russia Beyond the Headlines (rbth.ru) 24 January 2013 On 22 August 2018, one of the Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines of a Red Wings Tu-204 operating flight WZ808 from Ufa to Sochi experienced an engine surge during takeoff from Ufa International Airport and subsequently caught fire. The crew did not receive any fire indications, the automatic fire suppression system did not work, and the manual fire suppression failed to fully extinguish the flames. Emergency services put out the fire after landing while the passengers were evacuated through the right-hand emergency doors via slides. There were no injuries. A Rosaviatsia (Russia's Civil Aviation Authority) commission has been set up to investigate the occurrence.

Red Wings Airlines

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