OREANDA-NEWS. During the fall-winter period of 2007-2008 UTair (UTair Aviation JSC) will launch around 20 new routes, most of which will be conducted on comfortable ATR-42 regional liners produced in Europe, reported the press-centre of UTair.

Starting November 1, 2007 ATR-42 will conduct daily flights between Tyumen,Ufa, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod. On November 8, 2007 UTair is set to also launch Tyumen-Omsk-Novosibirsk-Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk flights. As a result, the airline’s route network will bring the major regional centers of Russia closer together by bypassing Moscow.

In November, UTair will also announce daily flights from Moscow (Vnukovo Airport) to Lugansk, Vilnius and Belgorod. ATR-42s will be used on all these flights.

Beginning this season, residents of Irkutsk and guests will be able to enjoy UTair services as well. Daily direct flights between Moscow (Vnukovo Airport) and Irkutsk will be launched on November 25, to be conducted on Tu-154 planes with three classes.

The Moscow-based Vnukovo Airport is a major connecting flight hub for UTair. In October, the airline began regular flights from Vnukovo to Usinsk on Tu-134 planes and Pskov on An-24 planes. In addition, a new daily flight to Astrakhan will be added to UTair’s schedule on November 20 and one to Arkhangelsk in December.

UTair’s future plans include the expansion of its route network and the launching of flights from Yekaterinburg and Kazan to St. Petersburg, from Kiev to the northern cities of Noyabrsk and Nadym via Kazan, and a Surgut-Yekaterinburg-Novosibirsk-Irkutsk flight.

As part of its New Year charter program, UTair will have around 60 international flights.

UTair is among Russia's major air carriers. In 2007, the airline is planning to transport more than 3 million passengers. The company was among the first Russian airlines to modernize its regional fleet. In particular, it is in the process of a gradual replacement of Russian Yak-40 and An-24 planes with European ATR-42s. In October 2007, the Supervisory Board of UTair resolved to announce a tender for the supply of short haul jet planes to have them replace Tu-134s. UTair might purchase both foreign and Russian aircraft, such as An-148, ARJ-21/700, Bombardier CRJ-700, Embraer ERJ-170, SSJ 100/95, Тu-334 and others.

UTair’s fleet includes a total of 139 aircraft of different types.