S7 Airlines
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S7 Airlines is an airline based in Novosibirsk, Russia. It was formerly known as Sibir (Siberia) Airlines (in Russian: Авиакомпания "Сибирь"). It operates scheduled passenger flights to Russian and CIS destinations, as well as international services to China, Germany, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. Its main bases and hubs are Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow and Tolmachevo Airport (OVB), Novosibirsk, with a further hub at Irkutsk International Airport (IKT), Irkutsk.
History
Siberia Airlines was established in May 1992 in Ob, a city near Novosibirsk.It is a successor of former Tolmachevo United Avia Squadron (Russian: Толмачевский объединенный авиаотряд), which was a local subsidiary of Aeroflot.
Tolmachevo United Avia Squadron dates back to 12 July 1957, when it accomplished the first flight from Moscow to Novosibirsk. The first international flight was carried in 1991 to Harbin, China. In 1994 the airline joined IATA. Also that year it became an open joint stock company and had started its first international route (as Siberia Airlines) from Novosibirsk to Frankfurt, Germany.
In the first half of the 1990s Siberia Airlines was a medium-size regional airline like many others created from the former Aeroflot. It was mainly focused on domestic flights from Novosibirsk. However, by the end of the decade the airline started aggressive expansion in the Russian domestic market.
Siberia Airlines has grown mainly through a series of mergers with smaller regional airlines. In 1999 it opened its Moscow branch in Vnukovo International Airport. The charter flights program from Sheremetyevo International Airport followed in 2000. Also the company created a hub in Irkutsk.
In the start of the 2000s the airline also acquired one of the major Moscow-market players - Vnukovo Airlines, based in Vnukovo International Airport. Thus, in 2001 it became the second-largest carrier in Russia.
Since 2002 all Moscow flights are operated from Domodedovo International Airport, which is the biggest hub of the company so far. The company started a close partnership with Armenian airline Armavia and owns 70% of that company. Siberia Airlines crews operate Armavia A320s on flights from Erevan to Moscow and Novosibirsk.
As of 2003 it was the second-largest airline in Russia. It ranked second in Russian international flights market and first in the domestic market. The airline carried 3.4 million of passengers in 2003. It employed 4950 staff at January 2005.
In 2005, Siberia Airlines rolled out its new livery, features marketing strategy focusing on the brand "S7".
On May 5, 2006, Siberia Airlines was rebranded as S7 Airlines. The airline also embarked on an advertising campaign using the slogan "Свобода выбирать" (Freedom to Choose).
It also announced plans to establish a new base in Chelyabinsk.
Incidents and accidents
- October 4, 2001: A Tupolev Tu-154M jet operating as Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 (RA-85693) en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk crashed into the Black Sea off Sochi, allegedly after being accidentally hit by S-200 surface-to-air missile, killing all 78 people on board.
- January 12, 2002: A Tupolev Tu-204 carrying 145 passengers and crew slides off a icy runway at Tsentralny Airport in Omsk after both engines fail on final approach. There are no fatalities but the aircraft receives substantial damage.
- August 24, 2004: A Tupolev Tu-154B2 jet operating as Siberia Airlines flight 1047 (RA-85556) en route from Moscow to Sochi exploded and crashed due to a terrorist bombing near Rostov-on-Don, Russia, killing all 46 people on board.
- July 9, 2006: An Airbus A310 operating as S7 Airlines Flight 778, carrying 193 passengers and 10 crew members, suffered a landing accident at the Irkutsk International Airport in Siberia. The jet crashed failed to decelerate on landing, overran the runway and crashed into a concrete barricade. 124 persons on board did not survive.[BBC News] [CNN]
- July 9, 2006: An Airbus A310 operating as S7 Airlines Flight 1822, carrying 243 passengers and 8 crew members from Antalya en route to Moscow, performed an emergency landing in Simferopol due to a reported drop in oil levels in one of the engines. No one was injured. [Lenta.ru]
- July 13, 2006: An Airbus A310 operating as S7 Airlines Flight 778 and carrying 170 passengers from Moscow to Irkutsk, performed an emergency landing at the Irkutsk International Airport in Siberia. No one was injured. The landing was due to cabin depressurization, which the crew managed repair. [Lenta.ru]
Services
Siberia Airlines operates the following services (at January 2005):- Domestic scheduled destinations: Chelyabinsk, Chita, Adler/Sochi, Barnaul, Bratsk, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kemerovo, Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Magnitogorsk, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhnevartovsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Norilsk, Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Novy Urengoy, Omsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg, Tomsk, Ulan-Ude, Vladikavkaz, Vladivostok, Yakutsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
- International scheduled destinations: Baku, Bangkok, Beijing, Donetsk, Dubai, Dushanbe, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover, Khudzhand, Kiev, Kutaisi, Munich, Seoul, Shenyang, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Urumqi and Yerevan.
New Routes
- S7 Airlines has announced plans to establish a new base in Chelyabinsk among other new routes:
- Moscow Domodedovo-Pavlodar: 2x weekly Tupolev 154 service
- Moscow Domodedovo-Perm: 6x weekly Boeing 737-500 service
- Moscow Domodedovo-Osh: weekly Tupolev 154 service
- Chelyabinsk-Yerevan: weekly Boeing 737-500 service starting on May 2006
- Chelyabinsk-Dushanbe: 2x weekly Boeing 737-500 service starting on May 2006
- Chelyabinsk-Khudzand: weekly Boeing 737-500 service starting on May 2006
- Moscow's Domodedovo-Urgench (Uzbekistan) on May 2006. It will operate 1 flight a week, on Monday, using a Tupolev 154.
- Chelyabinsk-Adler/Sochi: weekly Tupolev 154 service starting on June 2006
- Chelyabinsk-Anapa: weekly Tupolev 154 service starting on June 2006
- Chelyabinsk-St. Petersburg: weekly Boeing 737-500 service starting on June 2006
Fleet
As of July 2006:| Aircraft | # | Seats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A310-200 | 5 | ||
| Airbus A310-300 | 3 | One was lost on July 9, 2006 due to accident | |
| Airbus A319-100 | 2 | ||
| Boeing 737-400 | 1 | for charter services | |
| Boeing 737-500 | 10 | ||
| Ilyushin Il-86 | 9 | ||
| Tupolev Tu-154 | 27 |
The first western aircraft, Airbus A310, were acquired in 2004. During the 1990s the airline also used Antonov An-24, Antonov An-26 and Tupolev Tu-134.
In summer 2004 during the Farnborough Air Show the company signed a memorandum of intention to purchase 50 of new Sukhoi Russian Regional Jet with the first plane to be delivered in 2007. However, the airline subsequently dropped its plans to order this aircraft, citing that the aircraft's changed specifications no longer met its requirements. [link].
In 2005, the airline introduced Boeing 737-500. In 2006, It has however retired its two Tupolev Tu-204-100s, inherited from its acquisition of Vnukovo Airlines.
The airline also has an outstanding order for 10 former Northwest Airlines Airbus A319-100 aircraft. These leased aircraft will begin to be deployed in summer 2006. [link]
External links
- [S7 Airlines]
- [S7 Airlines Fleet Details]
- [Sibir Airlines] at the Aviation Safety Network database
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