Nordwind Airlines takes delivery of its 30th aircraft

Thus far, just three of NordWind Airlines’ nine Boeing 777s are sporting the airline’s liveries (NordWind)

Nordwind Airlines, Russia’s seventh largest passenger carrier that is backed by Turkish investors, has taken delivery of its first aircraft so far this tear. The Boeing 777 is the ninth of the type in the airline’s 30-strong fleet. Nordwind has not revealed any further details of its fleet expansion plans for this year.

The latest Boeing 777-300ER, with tail number VP-BJP (s.n. 35299), landed at its Moscow Sheremetyevo airport base on March 3 and is currently undergoing Customs clearance formalities. Its sole previous operator was Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific. The aircraft is the 40th Boeing 777 in commercial operation in Russia, the ninth of the type in Nordwind’s fleet, and offers less capacity than its siblings. According to Russian Aviation Insider’s data, the latest delivery is currently configured with 275 seats, but more may be added later.

Apart from the nine Boeing 777s (six -200ERs and three -300ERs), Nordwind also operates 10 Boeing 737-800s, nine Airbus A321-200s and two Airbus A330-200s. The airline has previously announced that its joint fleet with sister airline Pegas Fly (also part of the Turkish Pegas Touristik group) will reach 50 aircraft in 2019. Pegas Fly currently utilises 14 aircraft, which leaves up to five more to be allocated to Pegas Touristik’s carriers this year.

In 2018 Pegas Touristik’s two airlines ranked fifth largest in Russia by traffic (almost seven million passengers, up 41 per cent on 2017) and fourth largest by RPKs (20.6 billion, a 39 per cent improvement on 2017).