OREANDA-NEWS. UTair Aviation and Alfa-Leasing have concluded a deal on refinancing for the purchase of four Mi-26T helicopters. Alfa-Bank supports the project in the capacity of financing bank. The UTair Mi-26T helicopters are in commercial service under contracts signed with Russian oil and gas companies in Siberia and for UN peace-keeping missions all over the world.

UTair has broad experience in obtaining financing for aircraft acquisition in Russia and abroad. “The deal with Alfa-Leasing is significant because even though the airline has been working on the aircraft leasing market for many years, this is our first refinancing project for the Mi-26T, a unique and much sought after helicopter in the Russian oil and gas industry,” commented UTair Aviation CFO Igor Petrov. “I am confident that the deal will give momentum for further development of leasing arrangements for Russian rotor-wing aircraft,” he said.

“The scale of UTair's helicopter business has traditionally supported the airline's leading positions in Russia and world, so it is our pleasure as one of Russia's largest leasing companies to collaborate with a company of this level,” added Managing Director of Alfa-Leasing Victor Loginov.

UTair and Alf-Leasing plan further collaboration. Currently, the companies are in talks concerning financing for the purchase of Boeing aircraft as well as additional Mill and Eurocopter helicopters.

The UTair Group includes airlines conducting passenger and cargo operations with fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft as well as enterprises offering MRO, personnel training, flight services and air transportation sales services. UTair Aviation is the Group's core enterprise and includes Utair-Express, UTair-Ukraine, UTair-Cargo, Turukhan, JSC Nefteyuganskiy, Vostok, Helisur, UTair Europe, UTair South Africa and UTair India as well as UTair-Technichs, UTair-Engineering and other enterprises. Group headquarters are situated in Surgut. Subsidiaries are located in Sugut, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansyisk, Moscow and in other cities in Russia and world.