VIM Airlines (legally ''VIM Avia'') was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...

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 million ...

based at

Domodedovo International Airport Domodedovo may refer to: * Domodedovo International Airport, an airport in Russia *Domodedovo (town), a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia *Domodedovo District, an administrative raion of Moscow Oblast, Russia *Domodedovo Airlines, a defunct Russian airl ...

. It offered international scheduled and charter operations for both passengers and cargo as well as

wet lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

services. Its licence was revoked by 4 November 2017 after its operations were suspended a few weeks earlier.

History

VIM Airlines was established by Viktor Ivanovich Merkulov (hence the name of the company) and started operations in 2000, with an

Ilyushin Il-62M The Ilyushin Il-62 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-62; NATO reporting name: Classic) is a Soviet long-range narrow-body jetliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turboprop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 p ...

. At the end of 2004, the company acquired

Chitaavia Chitaavia was an airline based in Chita, Russia. It operated scheduled passenger and cargo services, as well as aerial work, out of its base at Kadala Airport unsing a single aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-154B-2. Founded in 1991, the company was acquired ...

and

Aerobratsk Joint stock company, JSC AeroBratsk (russian: АэроБратск) is a minor Russia, Russian charter airline headquartered in Bratsk and based at Bratsk Airport,Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Air Traffic Management Corporation", ''Air ...

, followed by

Russian Sky Airlines Russian Sky Airlines was an airline with its head office on the grounds of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia. Its main base was Domodedovo International Airport.Flight International 12–18 April 2005 In late 2014 the airline annou ...

in 2005. On 28 September 2017, CEO Alexander Cochnev and Chief Accountant Yekaterina Panteleyeva were arrested after an embezzlement case against the employers of the company. In late September 2017 VIM Airlines' aircraft were seized at foreign airports and several routes were cancelled, including all operations from its home base Moscow-Domodedovo. The airline's aircraft were seized by lessors in Turkey following ongoing investigations by the Russian authorities. The airline suspended all charter operations in September 2017 and suspended all scheduled operations on 15 October 2017. On 4 November 2017, the airline's license was revoked by Russian authorities as the airline was unable to resume flights.ch-aviation.com - VIM Airlines' AOC suspended
4 November 2017

Destinations

Fleet

VIM Airlines, VQ-BTL, Airbus A319-111 (16454432741)

Former Fleet

As of 23.09.2017, the VIM Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Retired fleet

VIM Airlines previously operated the following aircraft:VIM Airlines
at planespotters.net *

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

(leased from

Aviaprad CJSC, Aviaprad (russian: ЗАО «Авиапрад») was an airline based in Yekaterinburg, Russia. It operated domestic and international cargo charters from Yekaterinburg to destinations within the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS, West ...

) *

Yakovlev Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airli ...