OREANDA-NEWS. UTair (UTair Aviation, JSC) has continued upgrading its passenger air fleet. The company has launched two more regional jet liners ATR-42 produced in Europe in operation. UTair’s fleet currently boasts 4 ATR-42 airliners.

With ATR-42 jets, UTair performs passenger flights between Tyumen, Nizhnevartovsk, Khanty-Mansiysk, Novosibirsk, Ufa and Omsk. The newly acquired airliners will be flying along the following routes: Tyumen - Khanty-Mansiysk - Yekaterinburg - Nizhnevartovsk, Tyumen - Beloyarsky - Khanty-Mansiysk - Sovetsky etc.

More ATR-42 liners are expected to be delivered, and two more jets will be put in operation in May 2007. In mid-summer 2007 UTair’s fleet will count 7 such planes.

ATR-42 jets comply with all international flight safety requirements and are successfully operated in Russia, Europe and America.

UTair’s plans are to expand its ATR fleet to 15 liners, which will gradually replace An-24 and Yak-40 aircraft flying on regional routes.

UTair is Russia's largest regional air carrier, with an estimated 430,000 passengers to be carried on some 9,000 regional routes in 2007. According to UTair’s business plan, the airline projects to carry over 3m passengers on its planes and helicopters, and to introduce around thirty new routes.