Red Wings Airlines is a Russian regional leisure airline based in Moscow Domodedovo Airport. The airline provides both scheduled passenger and cargo services.
Red Wings was founded in 1999 under the name VARZ-400, after the Russian acronym of the Vnukovo Avia Repair Factory. It was renamed Airlines 400 in 2001, before adopting its current name in 2007.
The airline was owned by Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev, who wanted to create a discount airline using modern Russian Tupolev Tu-204-100B 210-passenger twin-jet airliners, both newly built and used. The company had a fleet of ten Tu-204-100Bs (an eleventh Tu-204 was written off after crashing at Vnukovo International Airport on 29 December 2012), and had also sought to acquire Airbus A320s and possibly Airbus A321s to complement its Tu-204 fleet.[3]
Lebedev also owned 49% of Germancharter airlineBlue Wings, which was to become Red Wings's sister company. However, on 13 January 2010, Blue Wings ceased all operations and filed for bankruptcy, citing the global financial crisis for a pull-out of investors.[4]
After the crash of Flight 9268 in Vnukovo, Russian aviation authorities initiated an emergency check of airline operational activities and fleet maintenance, resulting in the revocation of the carrier's AOC, effective on 4 February 2013. The airline had ceased all operations the day before and owner Alexander Lebedev announced that no return to operation was planned.[5][6]
On 4 April 2013, NRC sold Red Wings Airlines Group "Guta" for one symbolic ruble (in this case, leased aircraft remained with the lessor NRC-owned company "Ilyushin Finance"). The new owners of Red Wings planned to increase the fleet to 10–15 aircraft; the airline was only going to buy Russian aircraft. On 25 April 2013, Red Wings announced it would be headed by Sergey Belov—the previous CEO of the airline "Russia". On 18 June 2013, the Federal Air Transport Agency renewed Red Wings' commercial passenger and cargo transportation certificate. On 22 June, the airline resumed charter flights, and on 12 July, scheduled flights from Moscow.
To increase their business power, Red Wings and Nordavia decided to merge. But while the process was initiated, a date for finalization of the merger or clarification of the two airlines' future business relationship and branding identities was never announced. The plan called for Airbus A320 aircraft initially ordered by Nordavia to be delivered to Red Wings. The new brand name was to be announced after completion of the merger.[7]
On 20 September 2018, Red Wings announced its re-branding; the first aircraft to arrive with the updated livery was to be the Airbus A321, set to arrive by the end of 2018.[8]
In August 2021 Red Wings air company signed their first personal services 20-year contract to the value of 500 million dollars with United Aircraft Corporation in order to technical support of SSJ100 engines. Before, only engine's manufacturer, PowerJet company, could carry the right to sign any technical support contracts with air companies directly.[9]
On 29 December 2012, at 16:35 local time (12:35 GMT), Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268, a Tupolev TU-204-100В (Registration: RA-64047, c/n: 1450743164047, s/n: 047, built: 2008) crashed on landing after overrunning runway 19 at Vnukovo International Airport (VKO) following a non-revenue repositioning flight originating from Pardubice Airport, Czech Republic. The aircraft broke up and came to a stop on elevated highway M3 about 400 meters (1,300 feet)past the runway's end. There were eight crew members on board of whom five were killed and the other three seriously injured.[18][19] The fatal Vnukovo accident was the second runway overrun incident involving a Red Wings operated TU-204-100B in nine days following a Moscow Vnukovo to Novosibirsk flight on 20 December 2012 that overran runway 25 at Tolmachevo Airport by 1,150 feet (350 meters) into an open field.[20] Initial flight data recorder readouts indicate that brake failure as well as engine thrust reverser issues were major contributing causes in both overruns resulting in the issuance of additional airworthiness directives.[21][22][23][24] Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) later determined that, as in the precursor non-fatal overrun incident in Novosibirsk, the fatal Moscow accident was caused by a failure of the compression switches in two of the three landing gear assemblies to close on touchdown thus causing the engine thrust reverser shells to fail to deploy.[25]
On 22 August 2018, one of the Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines of a Red Wings Tu-204 operating flight WZ808 from Ufa to Sochi experienced an engine surge during takeoff from Ufa International Airport and subsequently caught fire. The crew did not receive any fire indications, the automatic fire suppression system did not work, and the manual fire suppression failed to fully extinguish the flames. Emergency services put out the fire after landing while the passengers were evacuated through the right hand emergency doors via slides. There were no injuries. A Rosaviatsia (Russia's Civil Aviation Authority) commission has been set up to investigate the occurrence.[26]
^Agencies (29 December 2012). "Russian passenger jet crashes at Moscow's Vnukovo airport". Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
^"ASN Aircraft accident 20-DEC-2012 Tupolev Tu-204-100V RA-64049". Aviation-safety.net. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
^Hradecky, Simon "Accident: Red Wings T204 at Moscow on Dec 29th 2012, overran runway on landing" The Aviation Herald, 29 December 2012. (updated 31 December 2012).
^Hradecky, Simon "Incident: Red Wings T204 at Novosibirsk on Dec 20th 2012, runway excursion on landing" The Aviation Herald 20 December 2012 (updated 30 December 2012)
^Bad brakes cited in Moscow crash landing Agence France-Presse (via NDTV.com) 30 December 2012
^Kaminski-Morrow, David "Tu-204 directive warns pilots to check thrust-reverse status" Flightglobal.com, 2 January 2013
^"Tu-204 Red Wings crash in Vnukovo was caused by reverse failure – Interstate Aviation Committee" Russia Beyond the Headlines (rbth.ru) 24 January 2013
^"Incident: Red Wings T204 at Ufa on Aug 22nd 2018, engine fire". avherald.com. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
External links
Media related to Red Wings Airlines at Wikimedia Commons
wings, airlines, russian, regional, leisure, airline, based, moscow, domodedovo, airport, airline, provides, both, scheduled, passenger, cargo, services, iata, icao, callsignwz, wings, founded1999, years, 1999, hubschelyabinsk, moscow, domodedovo, omsk, peters. Red Wings Airlines is a Russian regional leisure airline based in Moscow Domodedovo Airport The airline provides both scheduled passenger and cargo services Red Wings AirlinesIATA ICAO CallsignWZ RWZ RED WINGS 1 Founded1999 24 years ago 1999 HubsChelyabinsk Moscow Domodedovo Omsk St Petersburg YekaterinburgFleet size28Destinations28HeadquartersMoscow RussiaKey peopleYevgeny Solodilin CEO 2 Websitewww wbr flyredwings wbr com Contents 1 History 2 Destinations 2 1 Codeshare agreements 3 Fleet 3 1 Current fleet 3 2 Retired fleet 4 Accidents and incidents 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory Edit A former Red Wings logo used from 2008 to 2018 A former Airline 400 Tupolev Tu 154 at Pardubice Airport in 2005Red Wings was founded in 1999 under the name VARZ 400 after the Russian acronym of the Vnukovo Avia Repair Factory It was renamed Airlines 400 in 2001 before adopting its current name in 2007 The airline was owned by Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev who wanted to create a discount airline using modern Russian Tupolev Tu 204 100B 210 passenger twin jet airliners both newly built and used The company had a fleet of ten Tu 204 100Bs an eleventh Tu 204 was written off after crashing at Vnukovo International Airport on 29 December 2012 and had also sought to acquire Airbus A320s and possibly Airbus A321s to complement its Tu 204 fleet 3 Lebedev also owned 49 of German charter airline Blue Wings which was to become Red Wings s sister company However on 13 January 2010 Blue Wings ceased all operations and filed for bankruptcy citing the global financial crisis for a pull out of investors 4 After the crash of Flight 9268 in Vnukovo Russian aviation authorities initiated an emergency check of airline operational activities and fleet maintenance resulting in the revocation of the carrier s AOC effective on 4 February 2013 The airline had ceased all operations the day before and owner Alexander Lebedev announced that no return to operation was planned 5 6 On 4 April 2013 NRC sold Red Wings Airlines Group Guta for one symbolic ruble in this case leased aircraft remained with the lessor NRC owned company Ilyushin Finance The new owners of Red Wings planned to increase the fleet to 10 15 aircraft the airline was only going to buy Russian aircraft On 25 April 2013 Red Wings announced it would be headed by Sergey Belov the previous CEO of the airline Russia On 18 June 2013 the Federal Air Transport Agency renewed Red Wings commercial passenger and cargo transportation certificate On 22 June the airline resumed charter flights and on 12 July scheduled flights from Moscow To increase their business power Red Wings and Nordavia decided to merge But while the process was initiated a date for finalization of the merger or clarification of the two airlines future business relationship and branding identities was never announced The plan called for Airbus A320 aircraft initially ordered by Nordavia to be delivered to Red Wings The new brand name was to be announced after completion of the merger 7 On 20 September 2018 Red Wings announced its re branding the first aircraft to arrive with the updated livery was to be the Airbus A321 set to arrive by the end of 2018 8 In August 2021 Red Wings air company signed their first personal services 20 year contract to the value of 500 million dollars with United Aircraft Corporation in order to technical support of SSJ100 engines Before only engine s manufacturer PowerJet company could carry the right to sign any technical support contracts with air companies directly 9 Destinations EditMain article List of Red Wings Airlines destinations Codeshare agreements Edit Currently Red Wings Airlines has only one codeshare agreement Smartavia 10 Ural Airlines 11 Fleet EditCurrent fleet Edit Red Wings Airlines Airbus A320 200 wearing the former livery Red Wings Airlines Airbus A321 200 wearing the new livery The Red Wings fleet consists of the following aircraft as of October 2022 12 13 14 better source needed Red Wings Airlines fleet Aircraft In service Orders Passengers NotesC Y TotalAirbus A320 200 2 180 180Airbus A321 200 6 220 220Boeing 777 200ER 3 412 412Irkut MC 21 300 16 15 16 TBASukhoi Superjet 100 95 17 43 100 100 Order of overall 60 aircraft 17 Tupolev Tu 214 1 Total 29 59Retired fleet Edit Red Wings Airlines previously also operated the following types of aircraft citation needed Ilyushin Il 76 Tupolev Tu 154 Tupolev Tu 204 100 13 Tupolev Tu 204 100B 13 Tupolev Tu 214 1 left in fleet after long term storageAccidents and incidents EditOn 29 December 2012 at 16 35 local time 12 35 GMT Red Wings Airlines Flight 9268 a Tupolev TU 204 100V Registration RA 64047 c n 1450743164047 s n 047 built 2008 crashed on landing after overrunning runway 19 at Vnukovo International Airport VKO following a non revenue repositioning flight originating from Pardubice Airport Czech Republic The aircraft broke up and came to a stop on elevated highway M3 about 400 meters 1 300 feet past the runway s end There were eight crew members on board of whom five were killed and the other three seriously injured 18 19 The fatal Vnukovo accident was the second runway overrun incident involving a Red Wings operated TU 204 100B in nine days following a Moscow Vnukovo to Novosibirsk flight on 20 December 2012 that overran runway 25 at Tolmachevo Airport by 1 150 feet 350 meters into an open field 20 Initial flight data recorder readouts indicate that brake failure as well as engine thrust reverser issues were major contributing causes in both overruns resulting in the issuance of additional airworthiness directives 21 22 23 24 Russia s Interstate Aviation Committee IAC later determined that as in the precursor non fatal overrun incident in Novosibirsk the fatal Moscow accident was caused by a failure of the compression switches in two of the three landing gear assemblies to close on touchdown thus causing the engine thrust reverser shells to fail to deploy 25 On 22 August 2018 one of the Aviadvigatel PS 90 engines of a Red Wings Tu 204 operating flight WZ808 from Ufa to Sochi experienced an engine surge during takeoff from Ufa International Airport and subsequently caught fire The crew did not receive any fire indications the automatic fire suppression system did not work and the manual fire suppression failed to fully extinguish the flames Emergency services put out the fire after landing while the passengers were evacuated through the right hand emergency doors via slides There were no injuries A Rosaviatsia Russia s Civil Aviation Authority commission has been set up to investigate the occurrence 26 See also EditList of airlines of RussiaReferences Edit Marie Pierre Balcaen EUROCONTROL DAP DIA Eurocontrol Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies Aeronautical Authorities and Services Extranet eurocontrol int Retrieved 30 December 2012 Former Zhukovsky Airport head Solodilin replaces Klyucharev as CEO of Red Wings interfax com 13 July 2022 Red Wings considers A321s as suitable A320s prove elusive Flight International Retrieved 24 August 2008 Blue Wings stellt Flugbetrieb ein in German Flugrevue Retrieved 13 January 2010 VEDOMOSTI Rosaviaciya priostanovila dejstvie sertifikata ekspluatanta Red Wings Vedomosti ru Retrieved 19 August 2014 http www favt ru favt new q novosti novosti novost 3031 Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Aviakompanii Red Wings i Nordavia obedinyatsya ato ru 16 October 2017 FOTO Red Wings predstavila dva varianta obnovlennoj livrei ato ru 20 September 2018 Red Wings zaplatit 500 mln za obsluzhivanie dvigatelej SSJ100 po kontraktu na 20 let in Russian Forbes Rossiya 16 August 2021 Liu Jim 10 May 2019 Red Wings expands Nordavia codeshares in S19 Routesonline Retrieved 10 May 2019 Aviakompanii Red Wings i Uralskie avialinii dogovorilis o sovmestnyh perevozkah PravdaUrfo 7 October 2021 Global Airline Guide 2017 Part Two Airliner World November 2017 30 a b c Red Wings Fleet Details and History Planespotters net Retrieved 3 October 2022 Novosti Aviation EXplorer GTLK peredala v lizing aviakompanii Red Wings 2 samoleta SSJ 100 MAKS Red Wings signs for Russian jets and Q400s Flightglobal com 30 August 2013 Retrieved 2 September 2013 Irkut MC 21 gets new orders at MAKS Air Show atwonline com 18 July 2017 Retrieved 19 July 2017 Start in neue Ara Red Wings ubernimmt den ersten von 60 Superjets 14 September 2020 ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 204 100V RA 64047 Moskva Vnukovo Airport VKO Aviation safety net Retrieved 29 December 2012 Agencies 29 December 2012 Russian passenger jet crashes at Moscow s Vnukovo airport Guardian Retrieved 29 December 2012 ASN Aircraft accident 20 DEC 2012 Tupolev Tu 204 100V RA 64049 Aviation safety net 20 December 2012 Retrieved 29 December 2012 Hradecky Simon Accident Red Wings T204 at Moscow on Dec 29th 2012 overran runway on landing The Aviation Herald 29 December 2012 updated 31 December 2012 Hradecky Simon Incident Red Wings T204 at Novosibirsk on Dec 20th 2012 runway excursion on landing The Aviation Herald 20 December 2012 updated 30 December 2012 Bad brakes cited in Moscow crash landing Agence France Presse via NDTV com 30 December 2012 Kaminski Morrow David Tu 204 directive warns pilots to check thrust reverse status Flightglobal com 2 January 2013 Tu 204 Red Wings crash in Vnukovo was caused by reverse failure Interstate Aviation Committee Russia Beyond the Headlines rbth ru 24 January 2013 Incident Red Wings T204 at Ufa on Aug 22nd 2018 engine fire avherald com Retrieved 27 March 2019 External links Edit Media related to Red Wings Airlines at Wikimedia Commons Red Wings Official website Official website of Air 400 Archive Portals Russia Aviation Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Red Wings Airlines amp oldid 1138146309, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
