RuAviation

On August 14, a Yak-40 passenger aircraft with registration number RA-87669 was welcomed at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky airport. The aircraft is equipped with a VIP-class cabin, the airplane was repaired at Minsk Civil Aviation Plant (MZGA) #407 and will be operated by Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise (KAP).

This Yak-40 was produced at the Saratov aircraft plant on July 18, 1980. From July 31 of the same year and until 1992, the aircraft flew in the Air Force of the Polish People’s Republic. In the 90s-2000s, it was operated in Belarus, as well as in several Russian airlines. From 2009 to 2019, the airplane was in storage in Vologda. At the end of November 2019, the aircraft flew to Minsk for overhaul.

Upon completion of the repair work, the Yak-40 underwent ground checks and overflights, after which it performed a multi-thousand-kilometer flight with intermediate landings from Minsk to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, where the aircraft was greeted with a water arch at the Yelizovo airport according to the tradition of aviators.

“This machine is good for what – it is six tons. If we have standard Yak-40 four-ton machines, this one is six-ton. That is, this Yak-40 can fly at a distance of more than two thousand kilometers. This opens up absolutely new opportunities for both the aircraft and the enterprise. This is a new front of work, a new segment, which we can successfully occupy,” noted Alexey Khrabrov, General Director of Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise JSC.

The appearance in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky of a business jet on the basis of an outdated model airplane was commented on the site Aviation of Russia by Alexey Butrimov, General Director of BJet aviation company.

According to him, at the moment, given the fact that the Russian tourist business is developing extensively, any transportation in the regions has been and will be in demand.

“Directly it concerns vip-passengers, businessmen who are ready to pay for vip-flights. And taking into account that now there is practically nothing to choose from, the increased fuel consumption compared to modern business jets will not greatly affect the workload, as in any case this expense is borne by the customer, not the airline. Taking into account the rise in prices for business transportation, the payback of such flights will only become easier,” believes Alexey Butrimov.