Which Russian airlines have the most modern aircraft? Airplanes of Aeroflot Airlines What kind of aircraft do Russian airlines have?

Often, when news appears about problems on airplanes, their age and supposedly poor condition as a result are mentioned. However, in reality one is not related to the other.

In July Boeing 737, airline-owned Jet2, made two emergency landings For two weeks. The plane was forced to land in Barcelona on July 16 as it flew from Ibiza to Leeds. Twelve days later, on July 28, he made another emergency landing in Frankfurt en route from Newcastle to Prague. The airline is investigating both incidents but says passengers were not at risk on either flight.

However, commentators were quick to point out the age of the aircraft, registered as G-CELI: it was built in 1986, 31 years ago. But do older planes really fail more often?

No, says Patrick Smith, an American pilot and author of the book “The Commander Speaks. Questions, answers and observations from an experienced pilot."

“Commercial aircraft are built to last more or less indefinitely, which is one of the reasons they are so expensive,” he commented. “It’s normal for an aircraft to remain in service for 25 years or more.”

Smith says the longer planes operate, the more scrutiny they come under. “Inspection criteria are becoming more stringent,” says Smith.

But if airplanes are built to last indefinitely, why do they retire after 30-plus years, or in many cases sooner?

Aircraft are sold, traded or mothballed not because they are old and falling apart, but because they are no longer fuel-efficient enough to operate, Smith said.

“Airplanes are tailored to specific roles and markets, and there is a delicate balance between whether they make a profit or a loss. Poor performance means a quick exit to the sales block, says Smith. “For another carrier with different costs, routes and needs, the same aircraft could be profitable.”

The declining economic value of an aircraft is typically due to its age, as well as new high-performance aircraft entering the market. Support for old jet aircraft often makes less and less sense. The new planes are quieter, more comfortable and better equipped than their predecessors, and as a result, they are more comfortable for passengers.

So which carriers have the oldest planes? According to airfleets.net, a website that collects information about most major airlines, - the oldest aircraft among the world's largest carriers are Delta Airlines. The average age of its aircraft is 17 years. Second and third places are occupied by Air Canada and United Airlines, with average aircraft ages of 14.2 and 14.1 years, respectively.

Oddly enough, Aeroflot has the latest planes. On average, they are used for only 4.2 years. Hainan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have the second and third youngest aircraft, with average ages of 4.9 and 5.3 years, respectively.

The data provided is approximate and does not cover all airlines, including Turkish Airlines, which is considered one of the largest in the world.

The largest airlines with the oldest aircraft

Delta Airlines - 17 years
Air Canada - 14.2 years
United Airlines - 14.1 years
British Airways - 13.2 years
Air France- 12.6 years
Lufthansa - 11.5 years
Southwest Airlines - 11.5 years
KLM - 10.7 years
American Airlines - 10.3 years
Qantas - 9.7 years
Thai Airways - 9.6 years
All Nippon Airways - 9.4 years
JetBlue Airways - 9.3 years
Korean Air - 9.2 years
Japan Airlines - 8.7 years
LATAM Brazil - 8.1 years
Singapore Airlines - 8.1 years
Cathay Pacific - 7.7 years
EasyJet (UK) - 7.2 years
China Southern Airlines - 6.9 years
Ryanair - 6.5 years
Air China - 6.3 years
Etihad - 6.1 years
Qatar Airways - 6.1 years
Saudi Arabian Airlines - 5.9 years
Emirates - 5.4 years
China Eastern Airlines - 5.3 years
Hainan Airlines - 4.9 years
Aeroflot - 4.2 years
Turkish Airlines - No data available

With a few exceptions like low-cost carriers Ryanair and EasyJet, European and North American airlines tend to have the oldest aircraft, while Asian and Middle Eastern carriers boast the newest.

By the way, Jet2, whose aircraft was discussed at the beginning of the article, is not one of the 30 largest airlines in the world, but has aircraft that are 16.8 years old. That is, the company could take one of the first places in the ranking.

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Information about each airline often contains figures about the age of the fleet. These are numbers indicating the year of manufacture of the aircraft. Quite an abstract concept. After all, an airplane can fly day and night, staying at least at airports. And another plane will fly only occasionally, for a longer period of time, lying idle. Serving corporate events, or sometimes charter flights.

Each aircraft, be it a small two-seater Cessna 150, or a huge Boeing 747, has a form maintained by aircraft engineers of the operating company. It records all the hours in full. ground work aircraft engines and airframe, and flight hours. Engines are included in a separate article; their ground and flight hours are recorded separately. Since the operating hours of the engine are determined by the companies that produce this type. Each engine has a service life, expressed in hours of practical operation, summed up from ground and flight work. At the end of this number of hours, the engine must be sent either for disposal or for complete repair at the manufacturer, with a service life extension.

A very common practice of leasing aircraft involves renting an aircraft from a certain airline, which also sometimes took what is called “rented” aircraft, with their subsequent purchase. That is, it turns out that one company exploited the aircraft to its fullest, squeezing everything it could out of them, and then, having the opportunity to renew its fleet, sells such an aircraft, with the remaining service life, to another company. So planes can change through three or four owners, each of whom drives them wherever possible. In this case, the year of manufacture of the vessel becomes of great importance. Because, having passed through the hands of charter operators, the aircraft is more than 100% worn out. Of course, there are inter-resource routine maintenance work, there is heavy routine maintenance work, there are also hourly RR work, all of them help to identify breakdowns, malfunctions and wear and tear of the aircraft, both the airframe, engines and equipment. In all types of RR (routine work), it is clearly and unambiguously stated what types of work should be carried out when the operating time is 50, 100, 500, etc. hours. After completing all types of PP, the people performing the work and the people monitoring the implementation and progress of this work are signed in the form. And even if the aircraft was laid up, that is, did not fly at all, RR must be carried out in accordance with the operating rules of the aircraft.

But given that aircraft used for commercial purposes, that is, on scheduled or charter flights, are idle little, the age of the aircraft acquires one of the decisive characteristics of safety and accident-free flights.

Why such a long preface, I’ll explain. The air transportation services market, and in particular the cost of air tickets, is very strictly subject to the tax and legal components. And the airlines themselves receive minimal profits, sometimes balancing on the brink of breakeven. Leasing, airport, tax fees, maintenance of personnel, flight and technical, fuel, payment for ANI (aeronautical information), all this “eats up” most arrived. Large airlines have another expense item, the maintenance of clearly unprofitable routes. Due to a number of political or economic considerations, such companies support unprofitable routes at the expense of profitable and seasonal flights.

It turns out that the only way to save money for any airline carrier is to find a balance between flight safety and aircraft maintenance. Therefore buying enough cheap ticket, for this or that flight, we must think about what caused such a cost.

It is highly recommended that before purchasing tickets, you familiarize yourself with the airline that will serve you. And in particular, find out the average age of aircraft. For example, Transaero has a fleet whose average aircraft age is 15.5 years. VIM-Avia has this figure, on average 21 years. And the airline “Tomskavia” is 27.2 years old!

Every year, reputable interstate bodies publish, along with other ratings, the age rating of aircraft of the world's airlines. A very interesting document! This rating is divided into three color zones:

Aircraft whose age is up to 10 years. Green sector.
Orange sector, from 10 to 15 years.
And finally, the red sector, aircraft whose age is over 15 years.

Sometimes it would be a good idea for ordinary passengers to familiarize themselves with this list. A lot of interesting information can be learned from this rating.

4 Russian airlines are in the top hundred. "" is among the twenty "leaders". And the famous German Lufthansa has been in the “orange zone” for a long time, adjacent to many American, Canadian and even Israeli companies.

The company’s flights and their workload directly determine which air park will be with this carrier. This article contains information about airplanes that use popular Russian airlines.

Fleet fleets by company brand

"AZUR air". This company uses five types of Boeings. At her disposal:

4 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with a capacity of up to 531 seats, depending on the layout of the vessel;
12 Boeing 767-300 aircraft – up to 336 seats per vessel;
8 Boeing 757-200 aircraft – up to 238 seats;
2 Boeing 737-900ER aircraft – up to 215 seats;
4 Boeing 737-800 aircraft – up to 189 seats.

You can view other parameters (wing span, length of the aircraft, its cruising speed, flight range) and the layout of the cabin, as well as the possible design of the body of the aircraft of this airline on its website.

Aeroflot Among airlines with a passenger fleet of more than 100 aircraft, Aeroflot has one of the youngest fleets in the world. Most of the company's aircraft are aircraft of the Airbus A320 family (78 units), Airbus A330 (22 units of this model have been added to the fleet since 2008) and Sukhoi SuperJet 100, which after some time will take over the A320 in terms of share in the fleet. There are currently 49 Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SS100) aircraft, but from 2019 to 2026, another 100 such aircraft will enter the fleet, according to an agreement concluded in 2018. In addition, Aeroflot has:

47 Boeing 737-800;
19 777-300ER airliners, which have a “Comfort” service class and are superior to other aircraft in terms of range and capacity;
34 Airbus aircraft A321.

"Nordavia". The fleet consists entirely of Boeing 737 narrow-body jet passenger aircraft:

6 Boeing 737-500 aircraft;
3 Boeing 737-700 units;
6 – Boeing 737-800.

These aircraft are reliable and meet the highest technical safety requirements according to international standards. All of them are equipped with full economy class cabins.

"NordStar" . The company's fleet consists of three aircraft models:

Boeing 737-800 (9 units, each with 168–180 seats);
Boeing 737-300 (1 aircraft with 148 seats);
ATR 42-500 (5 units with 46 seats each).

"Victory" . The airline is faithful to the modern Boeing 737-800 model - its fleet consists entirely of such Boeings. In total, the company has 30 of them, supplied directly from the manufacturer. The planes are comfortable and safe. The cabin features Sky Interior: it is equipped with spacious luggage compartments, comfortable leather seats, and color-changing lighting.

"Red Wings" . This company gave preference to the Airbus A320 family, or rather the Airbus A321 (“Airbus A321”) - a more spacious and modern model, whose number of seats in economy class is 40 more seats, and whose take-off weight is 16 tons more than the previous one A320 . But the flight range has also been reduced by as much as 600 km.

The entire Airbus 320 series is distinguished by a spacious cabin, spacious shelves for hand luggage, large cargo capacity of the lower deck. These vessels are produced in Germany and France.

Airline "Russia" . The company's fleet includes a total of 62 aircraft. This:

21 Airbus A319;
16 Boeing 737;
10 Boeing 777;
9 Boeing 747;
6 Airbus A320.

Among these aircraft there are both vessels with a capacity of about 130 seats, and vessels with 450, 520 seats. Therefore, the company's aircraft can fly both small and larger flights.

"ROYAL FLIGHT". At the beginning of 2019, the company had 12 aircraft and 3 more were on order. The average age of the company's vessel is exactly 19 years. The oldest ship is the Boeing 767-300 with tail number VP-BRE, 23 years old; the airline's newest ship is the Boeing 737-800 with tail number VQ-BRF (12 years old).In 2014, the company received a Boeing 757-200, and in May 2015, a Boeing 737-800. What does the Royal flight fleet consist of:

Boeing 757-200 (“Boeing 757-200”) - 7 aircraft;
Boeing 767-300 (“Boeing 767-300”) - 3 aircraft;
Boeing 737-800 (“Boeing 737-800”) - 2 aircraft.

"RusLine". As a private company specializing in VIP transportation, RusLine uses a small aircraft with only 50 seats. This is the Bombardier CRJ 100/200 ER/LR (Canadair Regional Jet) - a Canadian-made business jet (developed by Bombardier Regional Aircraft) from the family of regional aircraft. On aircraft of this model, the company's passengers travel throughout Russia and abroad, most often from several major airports Moscow (Domodedovo), St. Petersburg (Pulkovo), Yekaterinburg (Koltsovo) and Volgograd (Gumrak). The airline's home port is Moscow, Domodedovo.

"North wind" . An airline with a proud and romantic name"Nord Wind" from 2008 (the moment of its foundation) until the beginning of 2019, it acquired 30 aircraft, and for 2019 it planned to expand the fleet to 50 aircraft. At the beginning of 2019, the aircraft fleet contained:

Boeing 737-800NG – 11 aircraft for 186–189 passengers each;
Airbus A321-200 – 9 aircraft with a capacity of 214–220 passengers;
Boeing 777-200ER – 6 aircraft – 440 passengers;
Boeing 777-300ER – 3 aircraft – 486 passengers;
Airbus A330-200 – 2 aircraft – 283 passengers.

S7 . The easily identifiable aircraft, in their eye-catching light green color, belong to one of the most modern fleets on the market. Russian Federation. The fleet consists of 101 aircraft from the world's leading manufacturers: Airbus (61 aircraft), Boeing (23 aircraft) and Embraer (17 aircraft). S7 Airlines strives to be the first on the Russian market to operate the latest aircraft models: this was the case with the quietest in its class, environmentally friendly Airbus A320neo in 2017 and in 2018 with the medium-haul modern airliner Boeing 737 MAX. The company currently operates the following aircraft models:

Airbus A319;
Airbus A320neo;
Airbus A320;
Airbus A321;
Airbus A321neo;
Boeing 737-800;
Boeing 737 MAX 8;
Embraer 170.

"Ural Airlines" . Under operating leasing terms, the airline operates on Russian and international routes 47 modern Airbus aircraft:

24 A320 aircraft;
2 A320neo aircraft;
15 A321 airliners;
1 vessel A321neo;
5 A319 airliners.

"UTair". The company has 65 aircraft and 151 helicopters. As of July 2019, the airline operated the following models:

ATR 72-500 – 13 units;
Boeing 737-400 – 6 units;
Boeing 737-500 – 27 units;
Boeing 737-800 – 9 units plus 30 ordered;
Boeing 767-200ER – 3 units.

"Yamal" . The company's fleet is represented by:

Canadair CL-600-2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-200LR – 10 pieces;
Challenger 850 – one;
Airbus A321 – 3 aircraft;
Airbus A320-200 – 8 pieces;
“Sukhoi RRJ-95LR-100” – 15 pieces.

Outstanding Foreign Air Fleets

An example of one of the most expensive airline fleets, of course, is a company from United Arab Emirates. This is one of the world's largest companies, created by the country's top leadership back in 1985, and is based in Dubai.

Emirates . The airline operates the latest fleet of Emirates A380s and Boeing 777s, as well as a dedicated fleet of small aircraft for premium private travel around the world.

The company has 113 A380 aircraft, equipped with personal cabins, fully lie-flat seats and a SPA shower in business class, with access to Wi-Fi throughout the flight, a comfortable economy class with ample space and customizable lighting.
Emirates owns the largest fleet of Boeing 777 aircraft - 158 units.

Numerous surveys of airline passengers indicate that people enjoy flying on brand new airliners. We became interested in which Russian companies have the most modern aircraft, and found out the following.

First of all, let's figure out how the newness of an aircraft fleet is determined. One way is to compare the average age of airline fleets, but it is more interesting to look at the number of new aircraft for each air carrier.

S7

The well-known Russian company took a fancy to the A320neo family and purchased 20 aircraft of this series from Airbus. The model came off the assembly line only 3 years ago, so becoming the owner of two dozen brand new Neos is considered prestigious. In general, S7 likes to buy modern aircraft: it was once the first in Russia to receive two copies of the then fresh Boeing 737 Max 8, but stopped releasing them into the air after two accidents of ships of this type that occurred in different countries.

Already at the stage of booking an S7 ticket, you can determine which airliner you will fly on: the information is visible on the website.

Quiz: find out the airline by the plane. 10 questions for experts:

"Ural Airlines"

This airline is also the proud owner of several A320neo and one A321neo, but they can be counted on one hand.

“Urals” does not show the type of aircraft when purchasing air tickets: a flight on the latest model becomes a surprise before landing. True, several routes are served only by Neo, one of them is Moscow - Blagoveshchensk.

Other airlines

The average age of Aeroflot's fleet is only 5 years (this is considered a little), and it has not yet purchased new types of airliners. This year, deliveries of the long-haul Airbus A350 are planned, which will fly on foreign routes.

Pobeda has one of the freshest fleets (average age less than 3 years), it consists of modern, but no longer in production Boeing 737-800. Maxas have already been ordered to replace this model, but so far their deliveries have been delayed.

"Azimuth" flies on aircraft Superjet series, and its fleet is quite young. The remaining major domestic air carriers cannot boast of modern aircraft.

Most aircraft flying in Russia are no older than their counterparts used abroad. However, 17.7% of the aircraft fleet are old aircraft, many of which have reached the end of their service life and have problems with parts. Another disadvantage of the domestic market is problems with service and supervision, which is why almost the entire Russian fleet is registered in third countries

Photo: Transport-Photo Images

It became biggest disaster in history Russian aviation. The day after the tragedy of the Kogalymavia (Metrojet) Airbus 321, which killed 224 people, Russian investigators opened two criminal cases under the articles “provision of services that do not meet safety requirements” and “violation of flight safety rules or preparation for them.” . Searches took place at the carrier's office, Domodedovo, and Samara airport, where the plane was refueling. State Duma deputies immediately came out in favor of banning the operation of aircraft over 15 years old (Airbus Kogalymavia was 18 years old) and revoking the licenses of carrier companies with a small number of aircraft. The head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Alexei Pushkov, said that it leads to plane crashes. Deputies put forward similar initiatives after the crash of a 23-year-old Boeing 737 in Kazan on October 17, 2013. Then, as now, the public ignored statements from airlines and industry experts who argued that an airplane is not a machine and 20 years of operation is not such a long time for it.

Both planes - Boeing in Kazan and Airbus over Sinai - according to the latest data, were operational. The Kazan disaster, as the commission of inquiry decided, was an Egyptian one - three weeks later it was recognized as a terrorist attack. Suspicions about the poor condition of aircraft flying in Russia, however, have not evaporated. RBC analyzed the fleet of Russian companies operating scheduled and charter passenger flights and found out whether suspicions about its wear and tear were justified.

What we thought

The basis was the list of valid airworthiness certificates of the Federal Air Transport Agency as of October 22, 2015 (that is, aircraft that are allowed to fly in Russia), data from the official websites of carriers and Internet resources airfleets.com, russianplanes.net and flightradar24.com. We excluded from full list small aviation (private jets), local airlines (practical range less than 1000 km, mainly An-2), helicopters, business jets, as well as all aircraft not used for passenger transport - for example, cargo and agricultural. The sample also did not include aircraft that are not used to transport passengers for commercial purposes: for example, the fleet of the Air Force, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the special detachment for transporting top officials (SLO Rossiya), as well as aircraft belonging to aircraft manufacturing plants. The lists we received with detailed information about each aircraft were sent to all operating airlines with a request to confirm the accuracy of the data we collected. All responses were taken into account in the analysis results.

Our statistics also included aircraft from the second largest Russian airline, Transaero. was accepted on October 1, and on October 26 the company lost its air operator certificate and ceased operations. The Transaero fleet is in the process of being returned to the lessors: several dozen cars can be received by Aeroflot, which received part of the airline’s routes, the rest will be sold on the market or written off. Taking into account the entire Transaero fleet in the sample (according to open data as of October, this is 122 aircraft), we were guided by the fact that most of it could go to other Russian operators, and the composition of the fleet reflects the economic model of the largest private Russian carrier.

What will happen to the huge fleet of Transaero, the second carrier after Aeroflot in terms of the number of aircraft (one of them is in the photo), is still unclear (Photo: TASS)

Which models do you choose?

The most popular family in Russia is the medium-haul Airbus 320 (A320, A319 and A321): 249 such aircraft are allowed to fly in the country. In second place with 203 aircraft is the family of medium-haul Boeing 737, the flights of which were recently asked to be suspended by the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC).

According to our data, there are only 130 long-haul aircraft in Russia, of which 76.6% are Boeing 747, 767 and 777 models.

There is no definition of a medium-haul aircraft in Russian legislation. In the world, it is customary to classify vehicles with a flight range of over 2.5 thousand km into this category. Long-range vehicles in Russia are considered to be those with a flight range of more than 8 thousand km.

Airbus became the leader among aircraft flying on medium-haul routes in Russia not so long ago. The Big Four companies - Aeroflot, S7, UTair, Transaero - divided their preferences in two in 2013, explains Andrei Kramarenko, a researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the Higher School of Economics. The first two chose Airbus, the second - Boeing. Now Transaero has stopped flying, and UTair has significantly reduced its fleet.

Two competing aircraft makers account for most of the world's aircraft fleets. According to the international organization Center for Aviation (CAPA, Australia) for April 2013, of all aircraft operated in the world, 39.7% are Boeing aircraft and 28.7% are Airbus. Russia is no exception. The aircraft of the two companies occupy 61.7% of the Russian fleet, 14.3% - other foreign aircraft (Embraer, Bombardier, De Havilland Canada, Let, ATR).

Domestic aircraft account for only 24% of the total fleet of Russian carriers. Moreover, for modern models - An-148, Tu-204, Tu-214 and Sukhoi Superjet - only 6.3%. The remaining 17.7% are old modifications of An, Tu and Yak, most of which flew in the USSR. “But the share of these cars in the volume of passenger traffic is less than 5%,” adds a professor at Moscow State Technical University civil aviation Alexander Fridland.

In terms of quantity, Sukhoi Superjet is the leader among modern Russian models: domestic airlines have 39 such aircraft. “The Sukhoi Superjet has a niche, but it is very narrow due to its size (capacity - up to 100 seats. - RBC),” says Fridland. According to him, for local and regional routes it is large, but on main routes with good passenger traffic it is inferior to economical cars by 150-200 seats. “His niche is mainline, but weak in flow directions,” the interlocutor believes.

The An-24 has not been produced since 1979, but there are still 67 such aircraft in the fleet of Russian companies (Photo: Transport-Photo Images)

Of the Soviet aircraft, the An-24 is the largest in the airline fleet - 67 aircraft. A turboprop passenger aircraft for short and medium-haul routes was developed by the Antonov Design Bureau (KB) in the late 1950s. Maximum capacity is up to 52 passengers. It is operated mainly by Russian regional companies (RBC considers such companies not to operate long-haul flights, flights through the capital's air hub and those not based in Moscow and St. Petersburg). “The An-24 is the only aircraft in the world of this class that lands on the ground, on compacted snow or on ice,” recalls the Honored Pilot of the USSR, President of the Infrastructure Development Fund air transport Oleg Smirnov. “He flew throughout the entire airspace of the USSR and in the current conditions in the Far North is practically irreplaceable.”

Now the An-24 continues to be used by companies based in the north: Polar Airlines, Yakutia, Chukotavia. For now, it is impossible to replace it en masse with foreign models. Firstly, planes of foreign brands that could land at airfields in these regions accommodate fewer passengers, explains Kramarenko. In addition, technical documentation for them is available at English language, which is not owned by all An-24 pilots and personnel. However, during 2012-2013, Yakutia leased five Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft with a capacity of 70 to 80 seats. In addition to Bombardier, Aeroflot's subsidiary, the Far Eastern airline Aurora, flies Canadian De Havilland Canada 6 Twin Otter. Most likely, in the coming years, all An-24s will be replaced by foreign aircraft, “because they will exhaust their service life and it will become extremely difficult and expensive to maintain their airworthiness,” predicts Dmitry Mirgorodsky, partner of the consulting company Concuros, former vice-president of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. There is no replacement for them with domestic analogues.

The second most popular among Soviet aircraft is the Yak-42: there are 33 such aircraft in the fleet of Russian airlines. However, several of them are in storage: some are waiting for parts to be replaced, some will no longer fly into the air. The cars are part of the fleets of Gazpromavia, Grozny Avia, Izhavia, and Saratov Airlines. The latter company began flying Brazilian Embraer 190s two years ago.

How old are planes in Russia?

As the study showed, on average in Russia the age of foreign models is less than their service life, while our aircraft are often older. According to Andrey Sharypov, head of the civil aviation vessel certification department of the State Research Institute of Civil Aviation, for foreign aircraft it is about 40-60 thousand hours, that is, 30 years. For the Soviets it was less - about 20 years. The manufacturer can extend the service life individually for each vessel.

For example, the average age of the Boeing 737 Classic generation (modifications 300, 400, 500) in Russia is 20.2 years. Generations Boeing 737 Next Generation (modifications 600, 700, 800, 900) - 9.1 years. Modifications of Airbus 320 - 7.5 years, A319 - 11.9 years (see infographic). These figures are not significantly different from the world average. The Dutch airline KLM, according to planespotters.net, Boeing New Generation flies on average at the age of 9.3 years. The American low-cost airline Southwest Airlines, according to USA Today and the portal airfleets.net, has an age of 9.7 years. The Boeing 737 Classic aircraft (modifications 300, 400 and 500) of this airline are on average more than 22 years old.

As for Airbus, the A320 fleet of the German Germanwings is 23 years old. The American Delta, which flies with Aeroflot in the Skyteam alliance, has a lifespan of 20.7 years. Delta's A319 aircraft are 13.8 years old.

The oldest model of aircraft flying in Russia is the An-24. On average they are 42.1 years old. The average age of another Soviet aircraft still in operation, the Yak-42, is 24.7 years.

Soviet aircraft and modern Russian ones (with the exception of Sukhoi Superjet), unlike foreign ones, have problems with parts. Mass production of such machines has been stopped, so you have to order components individually, which costs several times more, says Sergei Koval, deputy head of the monitoring and authentication department of the Civil Aviation Research Institute. As a result, parts with forged documents are sometimes installed on Soviet cars. According to Koval’s estimates, the market now contains up to 8% of illegal parts, and from 2001 to 2015, 50 serious incidents occurred due to problems with parts (incidents with airplanes and helicopters are taken into account).

What happened to Soviet design bureaus

The Saratov Aviation Plant, which produced Yak aircraft, went bankrupt and was completely liquidated. The design bureaus that developed Soviet aircraft—the Tupolev Design Bureau and the Yakovlev Design Bureau (now part of the United Aircraft Corporation)—continue to exist mainly by supporting the remaining aircraft in service, Koval says. The Antonov Design Bureau (now the Antonov state enterprise) is located in Ukraine.

The age of the aircraft, according to professionals, does not affect its technical condition and airworthiness. “As a ship commander, I don’t ask: will you give me an old plane or will I fly on a new one? This doesn’t interest me at all,” explains Smirnov. The main thing is whether the aircraft underwent maintenance and repairs on time throughout its life. In addition, every part of the aircraft has its own resources. By that time, says Smirnov, “as the aircraft turns 17 years old, these parts can be replaced several times.”

The study found that 58.7% of aircraft in the Russian fleet had only one or two operators. And more than ten air carriers that have replaced each other have only 3% of boards in baggage. Moreover, in many cases, two of the same companies used aircraft in turns. This, for example, was the case with the Izhavia airline’s Yak-42: according to data from airfleets.net, if we take into account alternating carriers, it changed 20 operators in 28 and a half years. According to Smirnov, professionals are distrustful of an aircraft that has previously flown “in countries with high humidity, for example in Africa.” However, the lessor and the owner are obliged to put such a car in order. In this regard, the lessor, and not the previous operator, is important for the technical condition of the aircraft, the expert believes.

As a rule, carriers abandon aircraft for economic reasons, and not because of the end of its life, according to a study by leasing company Avalon (offices in the USA, Ireland, Dubai, Singapore and China). In Russia, foreign and new domestic aircraft models cease to be used at the age of 20-23, says HSE researcher Kramarenko. Global figures, according to Avalon research, are similar.

Airline age preferences

Russian airlines with the oldest fleet use Soviet aircraft. Among carriers with ten or more aircraft, the oldest fleet—41.2 years—has the Turukhan company, part of the UTair group. It mainly operates custom flights, including for mining companies. But Turukhan also has regular transportation, so its aircraft were included in our study.

In total, there are 16 companies in Russia operating aircraft over 25 years old for scheduled and charter transportation (see table).

The youngest park is at Pobeda, a subsidiary of Aeroflot that recently started operating. Its sides are only a year old. Aeroflot’s average fleet age, according to RBC calculations, is 4.6 years. The planes of Transaero, which stopped flying, were on average 18.6 years old (the S7 fleet was 9.2 years old, and UTair was 14 years old). In 2005-2008, many Russian airlines, including the Big Four carriers, when fuel prices went up, massively renewed their fleet, preferring aircraft with lower fuel consumption. In particular, this explains the rather young fleet of foreign aircraft in Russia, notes Fridland.

On April 1, 2001, regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) came into force, establishing reduced engine noise levels for aircraft flying in Europe. Almost all Soviet and Russian aircraft of that time did not fall under the new criteria: Tu-134, Tu-154B, Tu-154M, Il-62, Il-86. Thus, airlines that actively flew to Europe and transited over European countries, were forced to replace old noisy cars with new imported ones.

Low-cost airline Pobeda is the youngest Russian air carrier with the youngest fleet. Their Boeing is only a year old on average (Photo: TASS)

There is also a significant difference between the average age of aircraft from different companies abroad. According to a Bloomberg rating compiled in January 2013, the American Delta has an average age of 15.8 years, Southwest Airlines - 14.7, Aeromexico - 15.2, Lufthansa - 12.4, Air France - 11.5, Ryanair - five years.

Each company chooses for itself what is more cost-effective for it: a new or older aircraft, Mirgorodsky emphasizes. For example, purchasing a new Boeing 737-800 will cost approximately $48-55 million. The same ten-year-old model will already cost $16-18 million, says Alexander Kochetkov, head of the leasing company Gold"nsky Leasing. But old aircraft also require maintenance costs. Not all companies can afford to pay such sums at a time - they have to lease cars. In Russia, according to Ilyushin Finance Co. estimates, at least 80% of operating aircraft are leased.

This is exactly what the largest market player, Aeroflot, is doing, intending to enter the top 20 global air carriers in terms of revenue and passenger traffic by 2025. For the sake of this goal, the airline has been not only increasing but also refreshing its fleet for several years, General Director Vitaly Savelyev has repeatedly said in his interviews. “It’s difficult to compete on the global market with an old aircraft,” Mirgorodsky explains the strategy. Aeroflot also gives older models to its subsidiaries - Aurora Airlines, Orenburg Airlines, Donavia, and Rossiya.

But many companies don’t even have enough money to lease new aircraft. Transaero, for example, dreamed of ousting a state-owned competitor due to expensive debt financing, as it itself admitted in its financial statements, was expanding its fleet with cheap foreign and new vehicles, Vedomosti wrote. After the devaluation of the ruble at the end of last year, leasing for Russian companies has become significantly more expensive, even for old aircraft (leasing payments are made in foreign currency. - RBC), adds Mirgorodsky. According to Kochetkov’s estimates, leasing a new Boeing 737-800 costs an average of $4.2 million per year, and about $2 million for a ten-year one.