OREANDA-NEWS. May 30, 2007.  UTair (UTair Aviation, JSC) has successfully completed the procedures for extending an air operator’s certificate, thus confirming its right to provide commercial air service and air operation until April 29, 2009. A corresponding document was signed by Gennady Kurzenkov, the head of the Federal Service for Transport Supervision of the Russian Transportation Ministry.

UTair Aviation is Russia’s largest civil air operator with its fleet numbering 300 aircraft.

In 2006, the airline’s planes carried out 60,000 passenger flights – an average of 160 per day. Helicopters performed 100,000 cargo and passenger flights. In 2006, UTair planes and helicopters transported some 2.5m passengers.

According to UTair’s business plan, the company’s airplanes and helicopters will spend more than 200,000 hours in the air in 2007. Over 3m passengers will be transported and around 30 new routes launched. Helicopter operations will be conducted in ten foreign countries as well as Russia, with the volume of helicopter service exports increasing by more than 26 percent.