Utair suspended operation of 30 Mi-17 due to reduction of contracts with the UN

Airline «UTair – helicopter services (a subsidiary of UTair) suspended the operation of 30 helicopters of the Mi-17 – Mi-8AMT/MTV family due to a reduction in their participation in UN missions. This was stated by the company’s general director Andrei Martirosov on the sidelines of the Transport Week 2023 forum.

“The UN market is no longer available to us. Not completely, but it has decreased significantly because old contracts are ending and new ones are not being concluded. Therefore, 30 helicopters were stopped,” – leads his words to Interfax.

Martirosov added that the helicopters withdrawn from the UN market “have reached the maintenance cycle,” and their restoration will take about a year. The need for such machines is increasing due to the promotion of oil companies – the main clients “UTair» – deeper into undeveloped territories, as well as an increase in forest fires.

UTair Helicopter Services JSC is the largest helicopter operator in Russia: as of June 2023, it had more than 300 machines of various types in its fleet. The airline was one of the UN’s largest suppliers. Its reporting stated that after the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions, the company’s share of presence in contracts with the organization decreased. In 2022, the joint-stock company received 870 million rubles. net loss according to RAS with revenue of 22.44 billion rubles. A year earlier, the company showed a profit of 164 million rubles. with revenue of 21.2 billion rubles.

How reported According to the airline’s website, its fleet includes 98 helicopters of the Mi-17 family. The vehicles are used for transporting passengers and cargo, carrying out construction and installation work, emergency rescue operations and extinguishing fires. The helicopter’s flight range is 650 km, maximum take-off weight is 13 tons, and speed is up to 250 km/h.

As Vedomosti wrote earlier, the State Transport Leasing Company (STLC) by the end of this year will transmit “UTair – helicopter services” for leasing of 15 helicopters – four Mi-8AMT and 11 Mi-8MTV-1. These are the first helicopters transferred as part of the investment project “Purchase of Domestic Helicopters,” approved by government decree in February of this year. The investment project assumes release in 2023–2025. 86 aircraft of the Mi-8AMT and Mi-8MTV-1 type and their transfer to Russian airlines.