Air Volga

A Volga Aviaexpress Yakovlev Yak-42 at Istanbul Atatürk Airport (2008).

An Air Volga Bombardier CRJ200 approaching Domodedovo International Airport (2010).

When Aeroflot was dissolved in 1992,[2] its Volgograd-based division became an independent company known as Volga Airlines,[1] having inherited a number of Soviet aircraft. The airline was renamed Volga Aviaexpress (Russian: ООО «Волга Авиа-экспресс») in 1998, and again Air Volga on 14 November 2008.[1] In February 2009, the Bombardier CRJ200 became the first Western-built aircraft to be operated by Air Volga. After the initial two 50-seat Bombardier aircraft joined the fleet, another four arrived in November of that year.[3]

On 1 April 2010, Air Volga declared bankruptcy, and all flight operations were stopped. Its assets and brand name was acquired by RusLine,[1] along with the route network and CRJ200 fleet.[3] The Air Volga name thus survived, currently being used for the marketing of regional RusLine flights.

Between 2006 and 2010, Volga Aviaexpress/Air Volga operated scheduled flights to the following destinations:[4]

Over the years, the following aircraft types were operated:

• On 25 January 1995, a Volga Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40 (registered RA-87464) was damaged beyond repair when it overran the runway on landing at Rostov-on-Don Airport, subsequently colliding with a concrete wall. The ten passengers and four crew members on the flight from Volgograd survived the accident, which was later attributed to pilot error.[6]
• On 2 June 1995, the twelve people on board a Volga Airlines Antonov An-2 (registered CCCP-68142) died when the aircraft crashed in poor weather conditions near Volgograd.[5]
• The Bombing of Flight 1303 on 24 August 2004 with its 44 fatalities was the worst incident in the history of the airline. A bomb detonated on board the Tupolev Tu-134 (registered RA-65080) en route a flight from Moscow to Volgograd, resulting in the aircraft crashing in Tula Oblast. Nearly simultaneously, another bomb was exploded on a Siberian Airlines flight. Female suicide terrorists from Chechnya were made responsible for these attacks.[7]