OREANDA-NEWS. December 5, 2012. On November 20, 2012 UTair Aviation personnel and helicopters were evacuated from the Goma International Airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo in connection with the escalation of the ongoing armed conflict in the region. Within hours of the departure of Mi-8AMT helicopters belonging to Nefteyugansk United Air Group, a UTair Group affiliate, the town of Goma was occupied by armed rebels. The helicopters and their crews landed at the UN base in Goma, collected other airline personnel and passengers and transported non-combatants to the town of Bukavu across Lake Kivi to the south, outside rebel controlled territory.

Thanks to the swift and coherent actions of the crew and UN staff, the evacuation of personnel and helicopters in this life threatening situation was successful.

UTair helicopters perform peacekeeping operations in Congo under the auspices of the UN.

UTair Aviation, part of the UTair Group, is the leading helicopter operator in the world in terms of transport capacity and fleet size, with more than 350 domestic and foreign made helicopters in operation, primarily Mil and Eurocopter.

Since 1991, UTair is the largest provider of helicopter services for the UN missions in Chad, Sierra-Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sudan, Congo and Afghanistan. UTair Group helicopters perform medical, SAR, cargo, passenger and VIP-transportation operations in theses regions.

The range of rotorcraft capability in the UTair fleet and the professionalism of UTair personnel ensure the safety and service quality of flight operations at any level complexity in all geographic and climatic zones of the world.