Utair suspended operation of 30 Mi-17s due to reduced participation in UN missions

Utair airline has suspended the operation of 30 helicopters of the Mi-17 family due to a reduction in their participation in UN missions, reported “Interfax” General Director of the company Andrey Martirosov.

“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 (of the Mi-17 family involved in contracts.— “Ъ”) were stopped,” said Mr. Martirosov on the sidelines of the Transport Week 2023 forum. According to information on website Utair, the airline has a total of 98 helicopters of the Mi-17 family in its fleet.

The airline’s general director said that the 30 helicopters allocated for UN missions are suitable for firefighting, use in the oil and gas sector, in air ambulances, as well as in ensuring transport accessibility to remote territories of the Russian North. He said that these helicopters are now undergoing repair services and their restoration will take about a year.

As reported in Utair’s 2022 report, the airline was one of the leading providers of helicopter services to the UN, but cooperation with the organization has declined due to sanctions. This is partly due to the fact that the International Civil Aviation Organization has marked Russia with a red flag for insufficient control of flight safety due to double registration of aircraft.

Erdni Kagaltynov