OREANDA-NEWS. UTair Group subsidiary UTair-Express has won the Wings of Russia National Award among other regional airlines in its category for the 3rd time, confirming its status as a leading Russian regional carrier.

The presiding committee of experts for the awards, including more than 76 independent professionals from the Russian aviation industry, recognized UTair-Express as the Domestic Passenger Airline of the Year for category I airlines with more than 150,000 passengers carried on regional aircraft.

UTair-Express has received high recognition for the dynamic growth of its performance indicators in 2013. This pattern of growth has been supported by operations with ATR 72-500 aircraft, the airline's current flight operations program with Tupolev Tu-134 and Antonov An-24 aircraft in the European part of Russia, the implementation of charter flights and regularly scheduled flights from the Republic of Komi and the Nenets Autonomous District.

“On a wide range of routes UTair-Express is the only carrier providing air transport access for residents in remote regions of Russia,” said UTair-Express CEO Anatoliy Karavaev. “To take advantage of the limited capacity of regional airports, UTair-Express operates a fleet consisting of predominantly Russian-built aircraft and guarantees their airworthiness in specific Russian conditions. The addition of ATR- 72 aircraft to the UTair-Express fleet of will significantly expand our network of short-haul routes, including on international destinations.”

UTair-Express operates the only Russian AN-26BRL aircraft equipped with an airborne “Arctic” research facility developed by the Murmansk-based Knipovich Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography. These aircraft is designed to operate at very low altitudes of only 300-700m, requiring advanced piloting skills. The aircraft is used on surveillance missions of the coastal districts of the Kara and Barents Seas for the study of migratory patterns of marine mammals and birds as well as airborne gravimetric research in the area of Novaya Zemlya and the Kamchatka Peninsula in the interests of the Shmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth.

In the summer of 2014 UTair-Express expects to launch operations with the Sukhoi Superjet 100. In preparation, the airline has established a subsidiary in Ufa where the new aircraft type will be based and maintained. This year UTair-Express is planning to open new ticket offices in Kirov, Yoshkar-Ola, Naryan-Mar and Tambov. The extension of the airline's network of ticket agent offices will expand the airline's access to customers and make air travel more accessible.

UTair-Express isone of the major Russian regional air carriers operating domestic and international flights to more than 40 airports in Russia and the near abroad. The airline operates a fleet of three Tu-134 aircraft, 13 Аn-24 aircraft, 15 ATR 72-500 and one AN-26BRL.