Metrojet (Russian airline)
Kogalymavia (Russian: ООО «Авиакомпания Когалымавиа»), DBA Metrojet (IATA: 7K, ICAO: KGL), was a Russian airline based in Kogalym, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.[3] Its home base was at Kogalym International Airport, with the main hub at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow.[4] It suspended all operations in December 2015, two months after the terrorist attack on Flight 9268.[5]
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Founded |
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Ceased operations | 2016[2] | ||||||
Hubs | Domodedovo International Airport[1] | ||||||
Secondary hubs | |||||||
Focus cities | Vladivostok International Airport[1] | ||||||
Fleet size | 6 | ||||||
Destinations | 16 | ||||||
Key people | Nikolai Nikolayevich Zolnikov, General Director[1] | ||||||
Website | metrojet.ru |
History
Kogalymavia started operations in May 1993. After 2005, the airline operated mostly international charter services to leisure destinations, under the brand name Kolavia.
In May 2012, Kogalymavia changed its marketing branding from Kolavia to Metrojet,[6][7] as part of its newly-established joint venture with TUI Russia & CIS, a subsidiary of the German tourism company TUI Travel.[8] Up until August 2014, when the joint-venture was terminated,[8] Metrojet operated on behalf of TUI,[9][10] and flew independently from then on.
In 2011, one of its planes caught fire, resulting in 3 fatalities and 32 additional injured. On 5 December 2015, shortly after the terrorist attack on flight 9268, Metrojet suspended all remaining operations after a significant decrease in passenger numbers and doubts about the security situation at its primary leisure destinations in Egypt. It announced a review of all operations and said it might resume services in summer 2016.[5] However, it filed for bankruptcy in March 2016.[11]
Destinations
Metrojet operated the following routes by the time it ceased operations:
- from Moscow-Domodedovo
- Austria (Salzburg)
- Azerbaijan (Qabala)[12]
- Bulgaria (Burgas, Varna)
- Croatia (Pula)
- Czech Republic (Pardubice)
- Egypt (Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Taba)
- Spain (Barcelona, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca)
- France (Grenoble)
- Greece (Rhodes, Heraklion)
- Italy (Treviso, Rimini)
- Montenegro (Tivat)
- Tunisia (Enfidha)
- Turkey (Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman)
- from Vladivostok
Fleet
The Kogalymavia fleet included the following aircraft, as of August 2016:[13]
Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Y | Total | ||||
Airbus A321-200 | 2 | — | 219 220 |
219 220 |
All stored |
Total | 2 | — |
Retired fleet
Metrojet and its predecessor Kolavia also operated the following aircraft in the past:
Accidents and incidents
- 1 January 2011: Flight 348. A fire broke out on one of the engines of a Tupolev Tu-154B-2, tail number RA-85588, before taxiing. The aircraft had 116 passengers and 8 crew on board, and was due to operate a flight, a Surgut–Moscow service. It was evacuated seconds before the flames engulfed the fuselage. Three people were killed and 43 passengers injured.[16][17][18]
- 31 October 2015: Flight 9268, an Airbus A321-200 charter flight with 224 people on board, en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg, crashed on the Sinai Peninsula. All 217 passengers and seven crew members perished.[19] The Russian Federal Security Service announced on 17 November that it was a terrorist attack, caused by an improvised bomb containing the equivalent of up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of TNT that detonated during the flight. The Russians said they had found explosive residue as evidence. This air crash was named as the biggest and the most fatal in the history of the airline, Russian and Soviet aviation; and the Airbus A320 family's history.
- 5 November 2015: Flight 9267 suffered a collapse of its nose gear following an incident during pushback at Saint Petersburg Airport in Russia. The flight was operated by EI-ETL, an Airbus A321-200.[20]
References
- Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Air Traffic Management Corporation", Airline Reference, Vol. 1, Russian Federation, 29 January 2008, p. 244
- Sonawane, Vishakha (5 November 2015). "Metrojet Ordered To Cease Airbus A321 Operations, Egypt Condemns Britain's Travel Ban". International Business Times. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- "Адреса и телефоны авиакомпании KOLAVIA Archived 28 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine." Kolavia. Retrieved on 18 July 2010. "Юридический и почтовый адрес: 628486, РФ, Тюменская область, г.Когалым, ул.Авиаторов"
- "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 3 April 2007. p. 102.
- aerotelegraph.com - "Grounding: Russian Metrojet suspends all flights" (German) 5 December 2015
- "После ребрендинга "Когалымавиа" летает под брендом MetroJet". Vesti.ru. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- "Что такое Metrojet: Чем известна компания, ранее называвшаяся "Когалымавиа". Коротко — Meduza". Meduza.io. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- "Flug 7K9268: Was ist Kogalymavia für eine Airline? - SPIEGEL ONLINE". Spiegel.de. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- "Туроператор TUI Россия - Правила провоза багажа, животных и оборудования". 6 April 2012. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- "Смотреть спорт онлайн прямая трансляция матчей бесплатно 📺 Расписание и результаты матчей⚽ на ODDS.ru". Матч-центр ODDS.ru. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- Insider, Russian Aviation (18 March 2016). "Russian authorities ban Metrojet operations - Russian aviation news". Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- Yagubov, Elvin (25 July 2014). "New flight launched from Gabala to Moscow". apa.az/. Azeri-Press Agency (APA) LLC. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ch-aviation.com – Kolavia Archived 14 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 1 November 2015
- airfleets.net - Metrojet Russia retrieved 1 November 2015
- "Please verify your request". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- David Kaminski-Morrow (4 January 2011). "Tu-154 fire started in rear fuselage, not engines: inquiry". Flightglobal.com. Air Transport Intelligence news. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
The fire, which broke out as the jet prepared to taxi for a flight to Moscow, killed three occupants of the aircraft.
- David Kaminski-Morrow (1 January 2011). "Fatal fire destroys Kolavia Tu-154 at Surgut". Flightglobal.com. Air Transport Intelligence news. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
- "Russia pop group Na-Na describe plane fire 'panic'". BBC News. 1 January 2011.
- Yusri Mohammed (31 October 2015). "Flight 7K9268 plane crash: Russian passenger jet with 224 people on board crashes over Egypt". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- "AirLive.net: ALERT Metrojet A321 #7K9267 front wheel collapses during push back at St. Petersburg". Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.