OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2012. Key KPI for UTair Group helicopter operations for the first 9 months of 2012 have surpassed results for the same period last year.

UTair Group helicopter transport operations logged a total of 126,125 flight hours in the first 9 months of 2012, 21.7% more than for the same reporting period last year. In the same period UTair Group helicopters transported 600,171 passengers and delivered 120,174.3 tons of cargo.

Growth of performance indicators has come with fleet modernization and expansion of the company’s service operations portfolio. During the reporting period, UTair helicopters performed a wide range of operations, including the transportation of bulk cargo, VIP passenger transport on specially-equipped rotorcraft, and fire fighting operations in Russia and abroad.

In the summer of 2012 UTair attracted financing for the acquisition and delivery of 19 new Eurocopter AS 350/355 helicopters from leading British bank HSBC with insurance guarantees from the French insurance agency COFACE. The airline has already launched operations with five such helicopters. UTair expects to start operations on four more AS 350/355s by the end of 2012, with the remaining 10 rotorcraft to be delivered in 2013.

UTair Aviation is the first Russian airline to attract insurance coverage from an international export agency in conjunction with a purchase order for helicopters on the Russian civil aircraft register. Earlier export agencies participated only in the deals with fixed-wing aircraft.

UTair Aviation, part of the UTair Group, is the leading helicopter operator in the world in terms of transport capacity and fleet size, with more than 350 domestic and foreign made helicopters in operation, primarily Mil and Eurocopter. UTair Group helicopters service clients on 4 continents. Principal UTair clients for helicopter services in Russia include leading Russian oil and gas companies, many of which have more than 40 years of cooperation with the airline. UTair is the largest provider of helicopter services to the UN since 2002. The range of rotorcraft capability in the UTair fleet and the professionalism of UTair personnel ensure the safety and service quality of flight operations at any level complexity in all geographic and climatic zones of the planet.