OREANDA-NEWS. April 13, 2011. UTair Aviationhas concluded a contract with ATR for the delivery of 20 new ATR 75-500 regional turboprop aircraft. UTair Aviation General Director Andrey Martirosov and ATR Consortium Executive Director Filippo Bangniato signed the contract in the presence of numerous guests and officials on April 7th in Kiev.

Both UTair and ATR view Ukraine as a market with high growth potential for cooperation. UTair's commitment to the region is shown in the dynamic development of its subsidiary - UTair-Ukraine. The airline was established in September 2008 and obtained its Ukrainian Civil Aviation Operator’s License in 2009. Currently UTair-Ukraine, with base airports in Lugansk and Borispol (Kiev), operates regular and charter flights to CIS countries and beyond with ATR 42 and Boeing 737-400 aircraft.

UTair and UTair-Ukraine have the largest route network connecting the regional centers of Ukraine with Moscow and other Russian cities. The schedule of daily service from the Ukrainian cities of Donetsk, Zaporozhe, Lugansk, Lvov, Nikolaev, Simferopol and Kharkov to Moscow has been orchestrated to provide the most convenient connections between Ukrainian cities and UTair flights to nearly 60 cities in Russia and abroad. UTair Ukraine plans to launch new regular flights from Kiev to Ivano-Frankovsk , Krivoy Rog, Lvov and Lugansk.

UTair and UTair-Ukraine have been operating ATR aircraft for several years now and the number of these innovative modern aircraft in the fleets of both companies is continually growing. As of 2006, more than 1.6 million passengers have been transported on domestic and international flights provided by Russian and Ukrainian carriers using ATR aircraft.

Fleet expansion with 20 aircraft ATR 72-500 will allow UTair to meet the needs of the developing air transportation market with the most suitable regional aircraft while cutting fuel costs. A part of the new ATR aircraft will serve the Ukrainian domestic market, with its longstanding tradition of regional air transport and expand the availability of local air transport services and contribute to the reduced cost of domestic flights.