Aurora Airlines to set up maintenance base on Sakhalin

The carrrier’s fleet includes DHC-6 Twin Otters (pictured), Airbus A319s, and Bombardier Q-Series turboprops (Vera Bykova / Aurora Airlines)

Aurora Airlines, a subsidiary of Aeroflot Group operating out of Russia’s Far East, will create a maintenance base at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk airport on Sakhalin Island.

The decision was made at a recent meeting between Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Sakhalin Region, and Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev. The associate feasibility study and project documentation are in the works.

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk currently has no hangarage for proper aircraft maintenance. All line maintenance operations need to be performed on the apron, and weather conditions often get in the way. “The Sakhalin residents will certainly benefit from this local facility,” Kozhemyako offered. “The MRO center will halve maintenance times easily, and it will also cut the costs.”

Aurora Airlines flies to regional destinations across Russia’s Far East from the hubs in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladivostok, and Khabarovsk. It operates a fleet of 110 Airbus A319 narrowbodies, 11 Bombardier Q-Series turboprops, and three DHC-6 Twin Otters.

By Evgeniya Kolyada