Pobeda Airlines gets two new Boeing 737-800s

The two aircraft are part of a contract with China's BOC Aviation for eight of the type (DS28 / Wikipedia )

Chinese lessor BOC Aviation reports having delivered two factory-new Boeing 737-800s (VP-BPK and VP-BPL) to Russian LCC Pobeda Airlines in mid-November. The first one has already arrived at the carrier’s Vnukovo base; the second one is being readied for its ferry flight from Seattle.

The two airliners come as part of an order Pobeda placed for eight of the type. The first airframe delivered under the contract, VP-BPJ, was handed over in October. The new aircraft are equipped with split scimitar winglets, and should increase fuel economy by 1.6% while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 530 t. per airframe.

With the latest delivery, the number of -800s in Pobeda’s fleet now stands at 15. Aside from this contract, the carrier’s sister company, Aeroflot, will provide Pobeda with 10 of the type, on lease from SB Leasing Ireland which is a subsidiary of Russia’s Sberbank. Pobeda will receive one more such aircraft before the year is out, to be followed by eight in 2018 and six in 2019.

The airline carried 3.334 million passengers in the first nine months of 2017, putting the airline seventh by traffic in Russia. The figure reached 3 million in early September, and the carrier’s end-of-the-year projections put the final tally for the year at 4.5 million.