OREANDA-NEWS. UTair Aviation has signed an air transportation agreement with the government of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug for cooperation in the organization of air transport to remote locations in the vast Ugra province. Operations will be performed with Mil-8T helicopters and Antonov An-2, An-24 and ATR-72 aircraft.

“Given the special features of the transport infrastructure in Yugra, many remote areas can only be reached by air,” stated Alexey Vtorushin, Director of the Department of Road Facilities and Transportation of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. UTair Aviation will provide 76 remote villages of the northern district with air regular air transport services. The airline will perform flights on 11 inter-municipal and 28 intra-municipal routes. The development of the rational air route network for Ugra residents of remote settlements is the critical problem, which is only possible to solve in cooperation with UTair Aviation.

UTair Aviation was included on the list of strategic enterprises in Russia in February 2015, recognition of UTair’s significant influence on GDP, employment and social stability. In the 2015 spring-summer operational season, UTair aircraft will perform flights to 150 destinations, including 80 unique destinations.

UTair and the Government of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug have a long history of successful cooperation. In 2014 UTair aircraft and helicopters performed almost two thousand flights and transported more than 85,000 passengers from remote settlements of Yugra.

UTair-Helicopter Services President Alexei Vinogradov said that the company’s unique business structure and fleet including both aircraft and helicopters allows UTair to carry out not only extensive and exclusive projects of any complexity, but also to perform socially important transport functions, ensuring accessibility to and from remote settlements of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

The UTair Group is one of the largest air transport groups in Russia, including companies performing passenger and cargo operations with fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft as well as enterprises offering MRO, personnel training, flight services and air transportation sales services. UTair Aviation is the Group’s core enterprise and ranks among Russia’s three leading airlines. In 2014 UTair aircraft transported 11,204,598 passengers. UTair maintains its central hub at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow. UTair-Helicopter services is one of the leading helicopters operators in the world, with a fleet including more than 350 helicopters of Russian and foreign manufacture. UTair Group also includes UTair-Express, Turuhan Airlines, Vostok Airlines, Helisur, UTair Europe, UTair South Africa, UTair India, UTair-Technik, UTair-Engineering, Ural Aviation Services, UТair-TG and other enterprises. The UTair Group employs more than 14,000 professionals. UTair Group headquarters are situated in Surgut.