Utair
Utair is a Russian airline with its head office at Khanty-Mansiysk Airport while its hubs are at Surgut International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. It operates scheduled domestic and some international passenger services, scheduled helicopter services, extensive charter flights with fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in support of the oil and gas industry across western Siberia. In February 1967, the Aeroflot Tyumen Directorate was set up to meet the transport requirements of the fast-growing oil and gas industry undergoing development in western Siberia. In the wake of the break-up of the Aeroflot organization, Tyumenaviatrans Aviation was formed in 1991 to replace the Aeroflot Tyumen Directorate. TAT adopted the name of UTair in early 2003; the airline is owned by Khanty Mansiysk District administration, Surgut City administration, Russian shareholders and companies, the Russian Federation, private foreign investors. In October 2010, Utair announced plans to replace its Tupolev Tu-134 fleet with the Sukhoi Superjet 100.
In December, UTair placed an order for 24 of the jets to enter service in 2013. In 2010, the airline named a Tu-154 aircraft after Boris Evdokimovich Sherbina, a Tyumenfigure. In November 2014, Utair was unable to make a bond payment. In April 2015, Utair announced a fleet reduction of over 50 aircraft due to financial difficulty, it cancelled its order for 24 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. A few weeks its regional airline subsidiary UTair Express ceased operations. In December 2015, it was announced that Utair sold its leisure subsidiary Azur Air to Turkish tourism company Anex Tourism Group, which had bought UTair-Ukraine a few weeks earlier. On 31 October 2017, Utair announced its rebranding and changing its name from "UTair Aviation" to "Utair". Utair has a codeshare agreement with following airlines: Azerbaijan Airlines NordStar Airlines RusLine Turkish Airlines As of August 2017, the Utair mainline fleet consists of the following aircraft - excluding helicopters and subsidiaries' aircraft: The airline used to operate these aircraft before.
On 17 March 2007, UTair Flight 471, a Tupolev Tu-134, crash-landed at Samara, killing 7 people and injuring 26. On 2 July 2008, a Utair Mi-8 helicopter crashed in Yamal region, injuring 7 on board. On 16 January 2010, a Utair Boeing 737-500, registration VQ-BAC, overrun the runway on landing at Vnukovo International Airport and was damaged when the nosewheel collapsed. On 20 December 2011, a Utair Mil Mi-26T helicopter crashed in an oilfield in Western Siberia. Utair grounded all its Mil Mi-26T helicopters following this incident. On 2 April 2012, UTair Flight 120, an ATR 72-200, registration VP-BYZ, crashed 1.4 nautical miles from Roshchino International Airport serving Tyumen, Western Siberia, on a flight to Surgut International Airport. The aircraft was carrying 4 crew. To date, 10 survivors with serious injuries and burns have been confirmed. On 4 July 2012, a helicopter operated by Utair for an oil and gas company crashed in a remote area about 4 kilometers from the runway of Lensk Airport near Lensk.
The wreckage was found several hours and three bodies were recovered, with the fourth person presumed killed. The cause was not known, but Utair grounded all aircraft at Lensk Airport pending an investigation into the quality of fuel supply at the airport. On 4 August 2018, an MI-8 helicopter belonging to Utair crashed about 180 km from the town of Igarka, in Krasnoyarsk Territory, killing all 18 on board. On 1 September 2018, Utair Flight 579, a Boeing 737-800, registration VQ-BJI, on a flight from Vnukovo with 164 passengers and 6 crew, overran the runway and caught fire while landing in Sochi, injuring 18 people. Media related to UTair Aviation at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a natural surface. In January 1919, aviation pioneer Orville Wright underlined the need for "distinctly marked and prepared landing places, the preparing of the surface of reasonably flat ground an expensive undertaking there would be a continuous expense for the upkeep." Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, the magnetic azimuth of the runway's heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the local magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west and runway 36 points to the north; when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane is heading around 90°. A runway can be used in both directions, is named for each direction separately: e.g. "runway 15" in one direction is "runway 33" when used in the other. The two numbers differ by 18.
For clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually: runway one-five, runway three-three, etc.. A leading zero, for example in "runway zero-six" or "runway zero-one-left", is included for all ICAO and some U. S. military airports. However, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero. This includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield; this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is common in a country such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04, the pilot read back the clearance as runway 4. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U. S. usage to airports around the world. For example, runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05. If there is more than one runway pointing in the same direction, each runway is identified by appending left and right to the number to identify its position — for example, runways one-five-left, one-five-center, one-five-right.
Runway zero-three-left becomes runway two-one-right. In some countries, regulations mandate that where parallel runways are too close to each other, only one may be used at a time under certain conditions. At large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 1 to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this system results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L, 7R though all four runways are parallel at 69°. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, 18R, all oriented at a heading of 175.4°. An airport with only three parallel runways may use different runway identifiers, such as when a third parallel runway was opened at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in 2000 to the south of existing 8R/26L — rather than confusingly becoming the "new" 8R/26L it was instead designated 7R/25L, with the former 8R/26L becoming 7L/25R and 8L/26R becoming 8/26.
Runway designations may change over time because Earth's magnetic lines drift on the surface and the magnetic direction changes. Depending on the airport location and how much drift occurs, it may be necessary to change the runway designation; as runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10°, this affects some runways sooner than others. For example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233°, it is designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changes downwards by 5 degrees to 228°, the runway remains Runway 23. If on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226°, the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224°, the runway becomes Runway 22; because magnetic drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon, not welcomed, as they require an accompanying change in aeronautical charts and descriptive documents. When runway designations do change at major airports, it is changed at night as taxiway signs need to be changed and the huge numbers at each end of the runway need to be repainted to the new runway designators.
In July 2009 for example, London Stansted Airport in the United Kingdom changed its runway designations from 05/23 to 04/22 during the night. For fixed-wing aircraft it is advantageous to perform takeoffs and landings into the wind to reduce takeoff or landing roll and reduce the ground speed needed to attain flying speed. Larger airports have several runways in different directions, so that one can be selected, most nearly aligned with the wind. Airports with one runway are constructed to be aligned with the prevailing wind. Compiling a wind rose is in fact one of the preliminary steps taken in constructing airport runways. Note that wind direction is given as the direction the wind is coming from: a plane taking off from runway 09 faces east, into an "east wind" blowing from 090°. Runway dimensions vary from as small as 245 m long and 8 m wide in s
Kazan International Airport
Kazan International Airport is an airport located in Russia, around 25 km southeast of Kazan. It is the largest airport in Tatarstan, the 15th busiest airport in Russia. Kazan Airport served nearly 3.8 million citizens of the region. On 15 September 1979, Kazan 2 was completed. On 28 September 1984, Kazan 1 was shut down, Kazan 2 was renamed to Kazan Domestic Airport. On 21 February 1986, Kazan Airport gained international rank; this was a drastic announcement, because the USSR Council of Ministers only allowed its citizens to fly out of the USSR. In 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Tatarstan region separated from USSR's single Aeroflot airline and created Tatarstan Airlines; this airline didn't gain an efficient amount of investments in its 22 years of service, its operating license was terminated on 31 December 2013. On 26 October 1992, Kazan got its first international regular flight: Kazan - Istanbul - Kazan; this flight was operated by Turkish Airlines and 145 annual trips are made to and from Istanbul, making it the most popular international route.
In 2008, Tatarstan's president, Mintimer Shaimiev, after winning the bid for the 2013 Universiade Olympic Games, began creating a set of major reform projects of Kazan. Apart from repairing the streets, bringing in investments, integrating English language and improving the bus route system in Kazan, Shaimiev began to redesign Kazan's airport, he designed the blueprints for Terminal 1A, planned out the complete refining of the airport between 2008-2025. Shaimiev's successor and today's president of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, used the blueprints, which were made in 2009, to begin the construction of Terminal 1A and a complete redesign of Terminal 1. First, a new 3700 meter runway was built, edge lights were added on both of the runways; this made it possible for the airport to operate 24/7. In 2012, a new airport fire station was built. In 2012 the construction of Terminal 1A began; that year, Terminal 1 began its own renovation. Terminal 1A was opened on 7 November 2012. Terminal 1 finished renovations on 22 June 2013.
Today, the new airport has seven conveyor belts. It has three separate duty-free shops, selling merchandise such as alcohol and cigarettes, chocolates, it offers popular brands such as Costa Coffee. The airport can sustain around three million passengers. Further expansions and the creation of Terminal 2 will occur before the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Following the Skytrax Airport and Airline Awards, Kazan Airport was nominated for 4 stars in 2014, was called Russia's and CIS's best airport. Thanks to the opening of new air routes and to the increase of flights in the existing ones, the Kazan Airport, at the beginning of the month of December 2017 reached the record of 2.5 million passengers transported in less than a year. Kazan International Airport is served by the following passenger airlines, all of which operate out of Terminal 1A: Tatarstan Airlines had its head office on the airport property. On 17 November 2013, Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363, a Boeing 737-500, operating for Tatarstan Airlines, crashed while attempting to land at the airport.
All 44 passengers and 6 crew members died. Investigations revealed the pilot had not completed his primary flight training, a revelation which led the Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency to revoke hundreds of pilots' licenses. List of the busiest airports in Russia List of the busiest airports in the former USSR Kazan International Airport official website
Sochi International Airport
Sochi International Airport is an airport located in Adler District of the resort city of Sochi, on the coast of the Black Sea in the federal subject of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. Sochi International Airport is among the ten largest Russian airports, with an annual passenger turnover of 5.2 million. The airport is run by an international joint venture of Basic Element group and Changi Airports International; the airport has been recognized as the best regional airport at the 3rd annual forum "Development of Russia and CIS airports – 2013", held by Adam Smith Conference. Sochi International Airport was the main gateway during the 22nd Olympic Winter Games, it served over 350,000 passengers on February 1–28, 2014. Over 2,800 tons of luggage was handled during the Olympic period; the original airfield was constructed to protect Russia's Black Sea coast during World War II. By order of the Chief of the Office of Civil Aviation, the site became an established airport on 23 November 1945. In 1956, the first terminal building and the airstrip runway-1 were built.
35,000 passengers and 1000 tons of cargo passed through the airport in 1957. From 1960 to 1965, passenger and baggage halls, a 200-room hotel, radio navigation and landing systems were all added to the airport as passenger traffic increased; the Order of Red Banner of Labor was awarded to the airport in August 1966 for its high performance. Passenger traffic went from 902,000 embarkations in 1965 to more than 2.3 million in 1990. From its opening in 1957 to today, the airport has served more than 60 million passengers. Scheduled international departures and arrivals began in 1981; the airport expanded to include flights to the Middle East and Western Europe. The international section of Sochi's terminal is small. President Vladimir Putin removed Sochi International Airport from the list of strategic enterprises on 3 May 2006, superseding its previous status under Decree No.1009 of 4 August 2004. Sochi International Airport was privatized in 2006 after Federal Property Fund held an auction to sell 100% shares of the airport.
"Strategy-South", a company affiliated with Basic Element group won an auction to acquire the airport for 5.5 billion rubles. The airport in Sochi became the fourth airport in southern Russia, among the ones in Krasnodar and Gelendzhik, operated by the Russian Asian Investment Company and "Airports of South". In 2007, Basic Element group established Basel Aero, a holding company that runs its airport business and operates all four airports. Sochi International Airport, under renovation, opened its doors to first passengers in 2010, it was further upgraded to meet the requirements of the International Olympic Committee as the gateway of the 22nd Olympic Winter Games. Basic Element, together with Russia's largest bank Sberbank and Changi Airports International, operator of the Singapore airport, established a joint venture to manage airports in Krasnodar region in 2012. Under the agreement, Basic Element has 50% plus one share in the JV, Sberbank's stake is 20% minus one share while Changi Airports International holds 30%.
In 2007–2013 Basic Element spent over 14 billion rubles to the airport's revamp. A modernized airport's building features a 65,000-sq.m terminal with an advanced 450-m long boarding gallery adjacent to the airport, 10 boarding bridges ensuring a comfortable access to the aircraft, a 4,000-sq.m VIP Terminal with the handling capacity of 80 passengers per hour that hosted IOC delegates and other high-profile guests at the Winter Olympics. New Zealand minted coins in 2010 as part of the'Olympic capitals' collection, placed a picture of a plane taking off from the Sochi airport on the "tails" of a new silver dollar coin Sochi International Airport has two artificial runways; the platform and parking lot have a total area of 218 square meters, with spaces for more than 1000 cars. Because of the presence of natural obstacles to the north and north-east of the airport, take off and landing are only possible on the sea side of the facility; the airport authority plans to extend the runway up to 3.5 km, with a portion overlapping the Mzymta River at a width of 300 m.
The Sochi airport is certificated by Aviation Register of the MAC for its suitability for international flights. It has the ability to receive the following aircraft types: Airbus A310, Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Boeing 727, Boeing 737, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Bombardier CRJ 200, Fokker 70, IL-62, IL-76, IL-86, IL-96, Tu-134, Tu-144, Tu-154, Tu-204, Yak-40, Yak-42 and other planes III and IV classes. Since 2007 the airport takes aircraft of all types; the capacity of the airport complex is 750 passengers per hour/ 2500 passengers per day. The new terminal building was built from 1989–2007, it is one of the largest in Russia. The airport has 440 meters of corridor space and 10 boarding bridges for boarding and deplaning passengers; the airport received extensive renovations in anticipation of the 2014 Winter Olympics. On 20 November 2006, the airport was auctioned to Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element group for 5.5 billion roubles. Deripaska is a member of the committee organizing Sochi's bid for the Winter Olympics.
The Sochi Airport railway station is located directly next to
Nordwind Airlines
Nordwind Airlines, LLC is a Russian scheduled and charter airline. The company is headquartered in Moscow, its main hub is at Sheremetyevo International Airport. Nordwind Airlines operates service between airports in Russia and holiday destinations around the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Nordwind Airlines was founded in August 2008 by the Russian and Turkish branches of tour operator Pegas Touristik and operated 3 Boeing 757-200s; the number of passengers transported was as follows: On April 29, 2013, two surface-to-air missiles were fired by unknown forces in Syria at a Nordwind Airlines jet flying from Sharm El Sheikh to Kazan. The pilots took the plane continued onto Kazan undamaged. In 2017, the airline acquired 2 used A330s. Nordwind serves 97 destinations in 26 countries including 8 countries and 22 cities in Europe, 8 countries and 12 cities in the Middle East and Africa, 3 countries and 3 cities in South America and 6 countries and 14 cities in Asia; the Nordwind Airlines fleet comprises the following aircraft: The fleet included the following aircraft: Airbus A320-200 Boeing 757-200 Boeing 767-300 Official website Official website
Mineralnye Vody Airport
Mineralnye Vody Airport is an airport in Stavropol Krai, Russia located 4 kilometres west of Mineralnye Vody. It features a civilian terminal area on its west side with 41 parking spots; the airfield houses a Tupolev Tu-154 maintenance facility on the east side. On 22 June 2014, Transaero Airlines began operating the Boeing 747-400 from Moscow; the airline operated the aircraft into the airport during the peak holiday seasons on Sundays, with the aircraft carrying a maximum of 522 passengers. To that date, the 747-400 is the largest aircraft. In July 2016, Novaport bought the Mineralnye Vody Airport from Aeroinvest. On 21 October 1953, a Lisunov Li-2, crashed in bad weather. On 31 December 1961, an Aeroflot-Armenia Il-18V crashed while attempting a go-around during a charter flight, killing 32 of 119 on board; the aircraft was one of two sent to pick up people, stranded at Tbilisi due to bad weather. On 27 February 1972, an Aeroflot Antonov 24B lost control and crashed on approach, after an unintentional application of the thrust reversers.
On 15 February 1977, Aeroflot Flight 5003 crashed during the initial climb phase of the flight, killing 77 of the 98 people aboard the aircraft. List of the busiest airports in Russia List of the busiest airports in the former USSR Media related to Mineralnye Vody Airport at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Tbilisi International Airport
Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport Novo Alexeyevka International Airport, is the main international airport in Georgia, located 17 km southeast of the capital Tbilisi. The first airport terminal building was constructed in 1952. Designed by the architect V. Beridze in the style of Stalinist architecture the building featured a floor plan with symmetric axes and a monumental risalit in the form of a portico; the two side wings featured blind arcades in giant order. A new terminal building was finished in 1990, designed in the International style. In 1981 Tbilisi airport was the 12th largest airport in the Soviet Union, with 1,478,000 passengers on so-called central lines, on flights connecting Tbilisi with cities in other Soviet republics. In 1998 the number of passengers had shrunk to 230,000 per year. Tbilisi International Airport is operated by TAV since October 2005. In Georgia the company operates Batumi Airport for 20-year term starting from May 2007. TAV Airports Holding, which owns 76% shares in Tbilisi airport operator TAV Urban Georgia, agreed with the Georgian state-owned United Airports of Georgia to reconstruct the unused runway, one of the two runways at the Tbilisi airport.
The old runway will be reconstructed and extended according to ICAO standards and code F regulations and will be able to accept all type of aircraft, including the Boeing 747-8, Airbus A380-800, Antonov An-225 and Antonov An-124. A new F Code taxiway is planned. Passenger traffic at the airport tripled between 2016 to 2.2 million passengers. February 2007 saw the completion of a reconstruction project, with the construction of a new international terminal, a car park, improvements to the apron and runway and the acquisition of ground handling equipment. A rail link to the city centre has been constructed, with an infrequent rail service of two trains per day each way. George W. Bush Avenue leads from the airport to downtown Tbilisi; the airport has a functional design. It is designed to provide the optimum flow of both passengers and luggage from the parking lot to the planes, with a 25,000 m2 total usable area. There is scope for future expansions without interrupting terminal operations, it has high-tech contemporary systems, keeping passenger convenience and efficiency of the terminal operations in mind, throughout functional spaces organized in an elegant manner.
The food and beverage operations are carried out by BTA at 7 points with a staff of 75, while ATU provides Duty Free services at its four stores. The total project cost was 90.5 million USD. The capacity of the terminal building is 2.8 million passengers per year. The implementing agency and the borrower for the project is TAV Urban Georgia, a concessionaire and special purpose vehicle for the construction and operation of the airport. During 2016, the main runway of the airport was resurfaced and fitted with new navigation lights, which will improve the safety level of the runway. Runway guard lights, LED stop bar signals and guidance signs at all the holding positions on the airport's main runway were added; the instrument landing system was upgraded to CAT II, which enables aircraft to land during poor weather conditions. The airfield lighting control and monitoring system was upgraded, including installation of new lighting signals on all four taxiways. In June 2016, due to an increase in passenger demand, TAV Georgia started construction of a new arrivals terminal.
The new complex will be integrated with the existing terminal building and is expected to increase the airport's terminal capacity to 3.5 million passengers annually. The new arrivals terminal will occupy a total area of 12,000 m2 and will be completed by the end of 2017; the new arrivals terminal was opened by the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili, TAV Holding President Sani Senar, Minister of Transport and Communication of Turkey, Ahmet Arslan and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia, on September 26, 2017. With an investment of $33 million from TAV Georgia, the new terminal occupies 12 000 sq. meters. It has a new two-exit boarding bridge, five new parking lots for planes, three 150 meter long luggage carriers, a new parking lot for 250 cars. A new Tbilisi metro overground line linking airport with the city was announced in October 2018. Proposed extension would connect an airport with Samgori station as a transfer point with the first line.
Construction is set to begin in late 2019. Georgian Civil Aviation Administration List of the busiest airports in the former USSR List of airports in Georgia Transport in Georgia Media related to Tbilisi International Airport at Wikimedia Commons Official website Current weather for UGTB at NOAA/NWS Accident history for TBS at Aviation Safety Network
Media related to Gumrak Airport at Wikimedia Commons
