"Vnukovo Airlines": features, history and interesting facts

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

JSC Vnukovo Airlines was registered with the state authorities on March 31, 1993 and was based at Vnukovo Airport at 12 Reisovaya Street. The company began to operate actual flights in May 1993, reaching stability in flights by 1994. During the first year, the number of employees grew to 3,300 people. By the end of the last century, the aircraft fleet of the Joint Stock Company consisted of 59 aircraft.

History of Creation

By Presidential Decree No. 242 of November 28, 1991, all the property of the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation was transferred to the newly created Ministry of Transport of the RSFSR, and on April 10 of the following year, an act was drawn up on the termination of the existence of the abolished Ministry. From this moment on, end-to-end leadership is terminated and each of the Civil Aviation Administrations that took place is renamed into a territorial airline. Thus, enterprising managers create small airlines on the basis of squadrons, and the Vnukovo Airlines company is formed fromfixed assets and specialists of the Vnukovo air squadron.

Technical equipment

At the dawn of its inception, as part of the succession, the company got 58 pieces of equipment, including:

22 IL-86 aircraft;
TU-154B, TU-154M in the amount of 23 units;
YAK-42D - 3 pieces.

Since 1993, testing of the ultra-modern TU-204 aircraft has begun on the basis of Vnukovo Airport, and on February 23, 1996, this aircraft made the first flight from Moscow to Mineralnye Vody. Subsequently, the Russian airline Vnukovo Airlines will have 4 more TU-204 aircraft and 1 TU-204C airliner.

By the time the company ceased to exist, its technical equipment was:

18 IL-86 machines;
16 units of TU-154 of several variations;
2 pieces TU-204.

Part of the aircraft was dismantled for scrap, and some of the more modern facilities were included in the air fleet of Siberia Airlines.

Traffic statistics

During the period of its existence, Vnukovo Airlines established 66 flights. Of these, 35 routes became regular. Flights were carried out to the cities: Almaty, Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kurgan, Magadan, Nizhnevartovsk, Polyarny, St. Petersburg and 27 other settlements. The company has become the largest Russian carrier operating charter foreign routes to Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, Spain, Italy, the Emirates, Thailand, Turkey, Croatia.

BIn 1996, located in Moscow, JSC Vnukovo Airlines achieved the following results:

passenger turnover – 4,501,702 thousand passengers km/1932, 7 thousand people;
freight turnover – 453,147 thousand tons/km;
transportation of goods – 12,750 tons;
delivery of postal correspondence - 1645 tons;
commercial load - 64.1%.

Collapse of the company

After several years of continuous work, the main shareholder of Vnukovo Airlines became the Russian Aviation Consortium, founded in 1995, which specialized in the development and subsequent management of civil aircraft construction projects. The air consortium is highly credited for the modernization of the TU-204 aircraft for cargo transportation.

In 1997, the company's management decided to take over several competitors, including the well-known air carrier OAO Siberia. The attempt was unsuccessful. In addition, in 1999, the airlines switched places, and already Siberia was preparing to absorb the recent favorite of air transportation. It was decided to merge the two companies, issue shares and carry out a profitable exchange. However, the owners from either side were not satisfied with the candidacy of the head and the merger negotiations were suspended. In 2001, the companies returned to the discussion of a possible merger and embarked on the path of bankruptcy of the crisis-torn airline in order to obtain OJSC Siberia the air fleet of Vnukovo Airlines and complete control over it.

Company takeover

After acquiring the status of bankrupt, announced by the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court, and the completion of the bankruptcy management procedure, the company ceased to exist from the legal side. As a result of the bankruptcy, the Siberia company, which became the unofficial successor of the debtor, was not obliged to fulfill any of the loan obligations. This so-called "velvet" takeover turned out to be beneficial for both parties. At the meeting of shareholders, a decision was announced on the transition of the enlarged company to a single share with a state share of 25%.

After Vnukovo Airlines is liquidated, Siberia Airlines pays most of its debts. By becoming the main creditor, it receives all of the bankrupt's air transport, manages the routes and controls the proceeds. Having received quotas for most of the routes of the former competitor, Siberia is forcing the partner to stop flying. And in April 2002, Vnukovo Airlines practically ceased to exist, due to the revocation of the license for air transportation.

Rough landing

1993-25-12 The TU-154, manufactured in 1978 and owned by Vnukovo Airlines, was making a domestic regular passenger flight from Moscow to Grozny. There were 172 people on board, including 7 crew members. Due to bad weather, the pilots of the aircraft were unable to make a soft landing. However, no one on board was seriously injured. Due to a bad landing, the plane was seriously damaged,was deducted from the balance sheet of the OJSC, left at the Grozny airport and never took off again. 1994-30-11 during the Chechen campaign, the TU-154 was destroyed as a result of a Russian air strike.

Tragedy at Longyearbyen Airport

29.08.1996 TU-154 airliner carried out a charter flight from Vnukovo International Airport. The plane that took off at Vnukovo will never return. Later, the crew will be called the culprit of the tragedy. When landing at the Norwegian airport Longyearbyen there were bad weather conditions, it was raining. The crew several times requested a landing on the tenth runway, but due to translation difficulties, they were directed to approach from the opposite direction. Turning into the permitted lane, the aircraft collided with the mountain of the Svalbard archipelago at an altitude of 907 meters. All 141 passengers and crew members died.

Terrorist takeover

11.11.2000 A TU-154 plane en route from Makhachkala to Moscow was hijacked by a terrorist. His only demand was to change course. Israel was chosen as the end point of the route by the invader. The crew was forced to comply with the demands of the terrorist, and the aircraft deviated from the route. The landing was carried out at an Israeli military base, where the invader surrendered. There were no casu alties among the 59 people on board.

Chechen trail

15.03.2001 A Tupolev Tu-154 flying from Istanbul to Moscow fell under the influence of Chechen terrorists. The three hijackers, the youngest of whom was 16, demanded to be taken to Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the hijacking was, according toleader, drawing the attention of the whole world to the problems of Chechnya. The crew tried to request an emergency landing, but the terrorists threatened to kill everyone. To suppress the will of passengers and pilots, the terrorists threatened to set off an explosion on board, and presented a dummy fuse for public viewing. The criminals warned of a fourth person who hid among the passengers and hid the bomb on himself. Subsequently, this assertion was not confirmed. After flying over Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt, the plane, running low on fuel, was forced to land at Medina International Airport. Long negotiations between the terrorists and the authorities did not lead to a result. During their stay at the airport, some of the passengers managed to escape, and in the last minutes before the military operation, the pilots were instructed to leave the cockpit. The liner was stormed by Saudi special forces. As a result of the operation, the leader of the terrorists was killed, 173 people were rescued, one of the passengers present on board and the stewardess Yulia Fomina, whose name was later named the hijacked aircraft, were killed.