Ural Airlines (russian: Ура́льские авиали́нии, ''Ural’skiye avialinii'') is an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

based in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblast) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg, formerly known as S ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, that operates scheduled and chartered domestic and international flights out of

Koltsovo International Airport Koltsovo International Airport (russian: Аэропорт Кольцово) is the international airport serving Yekaterinburg, Russia, located 16 km (10 mi) southeast of the city. Being the largest airport in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Kolt ...

. 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 PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

, the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

state airline, being in charge of Yekaterinburg Airport. Following the split-up of Aeroflot, Ural Airlines became a

joint stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...

incorporated under the laws of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

on 28 December 1993, and the airline business was separated from the airport. In 2010, Ural Airlines retired all of its

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) (NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irku ...

Ilyushin Il-86 The Ilyushin Il-86 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-86; NATO reporting name: Camber) is a short- to medium-range wide-body jet airliner that served as the USSR's first wide-bodied aircraft. Designed and tested by the Ilyushin design bureau in th ...

s 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. As of 2012, the airline also planned to buy a training complex for the

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A34 ...

. In 2017,

Skytrax Skytrax (originally known as Inflight Research Services) is a United Kingdom–based consultancy which runs an airline and airport review and ranking site. Services Skytrax conducts research for commercial airlines, as well as taking surveys ...

gave Ural Airlines 3 stars, which made it the fourth airline with three stars in Russia and CIS after

S7 Airlines S7 Airlines, legally JSC Siberia Airlines (russian: АО «Авиакомпания "Сибирь"», "АО Aviakompania Sibir"), is an airline headquartered in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, with offices in Moscow. As of 2008, it was Russia's ...

Uzbekistan Airlines JSC Uzbekistan Airways, operating as ''Uzbekistan Airways'' ( uz, Oʻzbekiston Havo Yoʻllari, ; russian: Узбекские Авиалинии), is the flag carrier airline of Uzbekistan, headquartered in Tashkent. From its hub at Islam Kari ...

and

Air Moldova Air Moldova is the national airline of Moldova headquartered in Chișinău. It mainly operates scheduled and charter services to destinations within Europe from its base at Chișinău International Airport. History The roots of Moldavian civil ...

. Currently, main hubs of Ural Airlines are Moscow-Domodedovo and

. Ural Airlines has plans to increase its number of hubs, by developing hubs at Moscow-Sheremetyevo and Moscow-Zhukovsky. In 2020, flights commenced to

n-controlled

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

Corporate affairs

Tupolev_Tu-154B-2,_Ural_Airlines_AN1521862

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.Перевозки пассажиров , Росавиация

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

Ural Airlines has

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

s with the following airlines: *

Azerbaijan Airlines Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

* Belavia *

Czech Airlines Czech Airlines j.s.c. (abbreviation: ČSA, cz, České Aerolinie, a.s.) is the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Its head office is located in the Vokovice area of Prague's 6th district and its hub is Václav Havel Airport Prague. The compa ...

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

Red Wings Airlines Red Wings Airlines is a Russian regional leisure airline based in Moscow Domodedovo 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 acr ...

Uzbekistan Airways JSC Uzbekistan Airways, operating as ''Uzbekistan Airways'' ( uz, Oʻzbekiston Havo Yoʻllari, ; russian: Узбекские Авиалинии), is the flag carrier airline of Uzbekistan, headquartered in Tashkent. From its hub at Islam Kari ...

Fleet

Ural Airlines, VP-BSW, Airbus A321-231 (37040236606) (2)

Current fleet

, the Ural Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft: Ural Airlines also started considering updating its fleet with newer

Airbus A320neo family The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...

Boeing 737 Next Generation The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by Twinjet, two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of th ...

and is still considering purchasing

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...

. It took delivery of its first Airbus A320neo in August 2019. The airline also considered purchasing

Irkut MC-21 The Irkut MC-21 (russian: Иркут МС-21) is a single-aisle airliner, developed in Russia by the Yakovlev Design Bureau and produced by its parent Irkut, a branch of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), itself a 92%-owned subsidiary o ...

s, but the plans were probably withdrawn.

Retired fleet

Accidents and incidents

* On 15 August 2019,

Ural Airlines Flight 178 Ural Airlines Flight 178 was an Ural Airlines scheduled passenger flight from Moscow–Zhukovsky to Simferopol, Crimea. On 15 August 2019, the Airbus A321 operating the flight carried 226 passengers and seven crew. The flight suffered a bird s ...

, an

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the ba ...

registered as VQ-BOZ, was scheduled to fly from

Zhukovsky International Airport Zhukovsky , formerly (and still occasionally) known as Ramenskoye (russian: link=no, аэропорт Жуковский, аэродром Раменское) is an international airport, located in Moscow Oblast, Russia, southeast of central ...

Simferopol Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, ...

. 226 passengers and 7 crew were on board. The aircraft suffered a

bird strike A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, bird ingestion (for an engine), bird hit, or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)—is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird or bat) and a moving vehicle, usually an aircraft. The term ...

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.

References

External links

Official website
{{IATA members, cis Airlines of Russia Companies based in Yekaterinburg Former Aeroflot divisions Airlines banned in the European Union Airlines established in 1993 Aviation in Sverdlovsk Oblast Russian brands Russian companies established in 1993