OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2012. UTair Group has reported a significant rise in its helicopter operations with figures surpassing those of 2011 by 27%.

Measuring from January to June of this year, the Group’s helicopters spent 74,439 hours in the air, representing a rise of 26.9% on the corresponding period of 2011. During the first six months of 2012 helicopters transported 361,682 passengers and 61 172.4 tons of cargo.

During the same period in 2012, the UTair Group’s helicopters carried out a number of aviation operations, including bulk cargo transportation, carrying VIPs on specially equipped aircrafts and fire-fighting duties in both Russia and abroad.

Continually working to upgrade and expand its aircraft fleet, UTair received three new MI-171 helicopters this month. This delivery is part of a deal signed with ”Russian Helicopters” in August 2011 which promises to provide 40 of the MI-171 models.

The new helicopters will be based at the UTair subsidiary, HeliSur in Peru.