Russia’s iFly Airlines brings a 10th Airbus to its fleet

As part of its development strategy, Russian charter carrier iFly Airlines has taken delivery of another Airbus A330-300, its second -300, and the eighth A330 wide-body in its fleet. The 10-year-old newcomer, with registration EI-GOT (MSN 1021) and powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4168A engines, is leased from ALC.
Its cabin is configured with 378 seats in a two-class arrangement of economy and premium economy, and will be operated on charter flights across iFly’s network of leisure destinations. It made its first flight for iFly from the airline’s Moscow Vnukovo airport base to Antalya.
“Further renewal and expansion of our fleet with Airbus aircraft is part of iFly’s development strategy for the period between 2019 and 2021,” states Maxim Matveev, the airline’s commercial director. “This long-haul A330-300 with premium economy class helps us offer higher level of service on-board and add frequencies to our main destinations in China, Turkey, Thailand and Europe,” the commercial director adds.
Founded in 2009, iFly Airlines is under the control of Alexander Burtin, who is also the head of the large travel company Tez Tour. A nine per cent share of the airline was acquired last spring by Silk Way, which is owned by Hong Kong-based Joy Tour Global Limited.
iFly carried in excess of 1.1 million passengers last year, having managed to boost its traffic results by 51 per cent through building partnerships with international travel operators Tez Tour, Tempus Tour, TUI and Intourist Thomas Cook.
Based at Vnukovo airport, iFly also started operating from Zhukovsky Airport (ZIA) near Moscow in February. It specialises in charter services to tourist destinations in Europe and Asia, such as Turkey, Spain, Italy, China and Thailand using its all-Airbus fleet of 10 aircraft: two A319s, six A330-200s and two A330-300s.
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