Russia’s Azur Air resumes passenger flights

Azur Air now utilizes its Boeing 767s on domestic scheduled flights (Azur Air)

After three months of grounding associated with coronavirus restrictions Russian airline Azur Air has resumed operations. In an attempt to adapt to the new post-pandemic market realities the Turkey-backed carrier, which specialized on charter services to international leisure destinations has now switched to scheduled domestic operations. Starting July 1 the airline is taking holidaymakers from 12 cities around Russia (including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Vladivostok among others) to two popular resorts – Sochi and Abakan utilizing its spacious Boeing 767-300 wide-body airliners.

During the lockdown of passenger air travel, Azur Air adapted its Boeing 777s and 767s to carry freight. In early June it took delivery of a Boeing 757-200, which joined the eight of the type it had before. The airline now operates a fleet of 31 aircraft.

Before the curent crisis hit, Azur Air was Russia’s largest charter operator and ranked seventh among the country’s largest airlines and was certainly one of the fastest growing airlines in the industry. Last year it added six wide-body aircraft to its fleet and enjoyed 36.6 per cent traffic growth.