Russia's Largest Charter Airline Has A Third Of Its Fleet Out Of Service
- 2.06.2026, 22:41
The airline's airliners have made multiple unscheduled landings since the beginning of the year.
Rosaviatsia has prevented three out of nine airplanes of Russia's largest charter air carrier Azur Air from flying due to detected deviations in engine parameters. This was reported to TASS by the head of Rosaviatsiya Dmitri Yadrov, specifying that the problems were discovered following the results of boroscopy. He also added that the order to lift restrictions on the airline's certificate may be signed as early as this week.
The restrictions on Azur Air have been in effect since March: Rosaviatsia reduced the term of the company's certificate to June 8, 2026 following an unscheduled inspection by Rostransnadzor. If the identified violations are not eliminated, the document may be canceled. Yadrov earlier said the carrier had eliminated most of the remarks, but the first plan to correct them, submitted in late March, was sent for revision because of its formal approach to airworthiness issues.
The inspection began on February 28 amid a series of incidents involving Azur Air's Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 aircraft. Since the beginning of the year, the airline's airliners have repeatedly made unscheduled landings: in January, a Phuket-Barnaul flight made an emergency landing in China's Lanzhou due to engine failure, and a Nha Trang-Irkutsk plane landed in Hanoi due to an oil leak. In February, one of the planes returned to Phuket due to landing gear problems, and an engine failure was reported on the Fukuoka - Kazan flight. In March, another plane traveling from Tyumen to Nha Trang made an emergency landing in Myanmar.
Azur Air's problems are unfolding against the backdrop of a general crisis in Russian civil aviation. According to calculations by Novaya Gazeta Europe and Aviaincident channel, the number of aviation incidents with malfunctions leading to flight disruptions quadrupled in 2025 compared to 2024, reaching 800 cases. As "Kommersant" wrote, out of 93 wide-body Boeing and Airbus airplanes (required for long-distance flights), less than 60 are in operation in the country, while the rest are idle due to lack of spare parts and difficulties with maintenance. The head of Gosaviannadzor Vladimir Kovalsky called the situation a "systemic problem", pointing to cases of falsified maintenance and reduced safety requirements.
On this background, the Russian authorities are trying to increase the production of domestic airliners, but these plans have to be revised. Thus, the head of UAC Vadim Badeha said that the production of Tu-214 in 2026-2027 will be halved to 12 airplanes instead of the previously planned 24, and their mass operation will not begin until 2027.
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