OREANDA-NEWS. November 28, 2008. S7 Airlines, Russia’s largest air carrier by number of passengers on domestic routes, has begun to operate flights between Moscow and Vladikavkaz on a modern Airbus A319 airliner. The aircraft replaces a Soviet-made Tu-154, reported the press-centre of S7 Airlines.

On November 18, 2008 the Vladikavkaz Airport was certified to service Airbus A319 airplanes. This type of aircraft is ideal for flights to Vladikavkaz because it exerts an acceptable load on the runway during takeoff and landing.

On November 17, 2008 S7 Airlines ended one of the stages of its large-scale fleet reorganization by completing the phase-out of all Russian-made Tu-154 and Il-86 airplanes, which did not provide a high level of comfort for passengers and were not fuel efficient. Now the airline operates flights only on comfortable and economical Airbus and Boeing airliners.

The Airbus A319 is designed to carry 128 passengers and has a comfortable arrangement of the passenger compartment for both economy and business classes.

Business-class passengers will appreciate the original and comfortable S7 business lounge at Domodedovo Airport.

S7 operates a daily flight from Moscow to Vladikavkaz and back, departing from Moscow at 11:45 and from Vladikavkaz at 15:20.