Nordwind Airlines, LLC (russian: ООО «Северный ветер», translit=Severný veter) is a Russian leisure

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

. The company is headquartered in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, and its hub is at

Sheremetyevo International Airport Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport ( rus, links=no, Международный аэропорт Шереметьево имени А. С. Пушкина, p=ʂɨrʲɪˈmʲetʲjɪvə ''Mezhdunarodny aeroport Sheremetyevo imen ...

. Nordwind Airlines primarily operates service between airports in Russia and holiday destinations around the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

History

Nordwind Airlines was founded in August 2008 by the Russian and Turkish branches of tour operator

Pegas Touristik Pegas Touristik (russian: Пегас Туристик) is a Russian tour operator. Its head office is located in Moscow. The company was launched in 1994. In Russian regions, Pegas Touristik has over 50 offices of tourism. Moreover, Pegas Tourist ...

and initially operated three Boeing 757-200s. The number of passengers transported was as follows:About Nordwind
/ref> 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 Sharm El Sheikh ( ar, شرم الشيخ, ), commonly abbreviated to Sharm, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 53,670 ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

. The pilots took evasive action and the plane continued onto Kazan undamaged. In 2017, the airline acquired two used A330s. The ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reported that Nordwind transported approximately 7.4 tons of gold with a market value over $300 million from

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

to a refinery near the airport in

Entebbe, Uganda Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. The c ...

. These March 2019 shipments allegedly expose a global

underground economy A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the ...

the United States government suspects helps Nicolás Maduro stay in power in Venezuela. Following the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

Nordwind suspended all international flights.

Destinations

Nordwind Airlines, VQ-BOD, Airbus A321-211 (29628671446) (2)

Nordwind Airlines, VP-BYU, Airbus A330-223 (37231035295) (2)

Nordwind Airlines, VQ-BDC, Boeing 737-8SH (33770258133)

Nordwind Airlines, VP-BJG, Boeing 777-2Q8 ER (42127947501)

Nordwind serves 98 destinations in 28 countries including nine countries and 23 cities in Europe, eight countries and 12 cities in the Middle East and Africa, four countries and four cities in South America, and six countries and 14 cities in Asia.

Fleet

As of May 2022, Nordwind Airlines fleet comprises the following aircraft: The fleet previously included the following aircraft: *

Airbus A320-200 Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

* Boeing 757-200 * Boeing 767-300ER

References

External links

* {{authority control Airlines established in 2008 Airlines banned in the European Union Russian brands Companies based in Moscow Russian companies established in 2008 Charter airlines of Russia