Russian carrier UTAir is to reinforce its regional arm by introducing up to 15 Bombardier CRJ200 passenger jets.
A freshly-signed agreement with the Cypriot-based lessor PL Panorama provides for a seven-year operational lease of ex-Lufthansa aircraft.
The 50-seat CRJ200s qualify for duty-free import under a Russian Government regulation.
Director for fleet development Alexei Budnik tells ATI that the entire batch will be phased in within a year following delivery of the first pair this month.
"We'll operate CRJ200s from any of our three base airports, adjusting capacity to demand on particular domestic or cross-border routes," he says.
"But we're in no rush to dispose of our remaining 29 Tupolev Tu-134s, which accomodate a few dozen more passengers, are fully amortised and still airworthy."
UTAir also operates 17 leased Western-built regional turboprops, including 14 ATR 42s and three ATR 72s.
Budnik says it is seeking to replace out-of-production ATR variants with -500 models to take advantage of higher operating efficiency and lower maintenance costs.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
