The emergency landing of a Ural Airlines A320 (reg. RA-73805) in a wheat field in the Novosibirsk region on September 12, 2023, has had serious consequences for the carrier. The aircraft was on a flight from Sochi to Omsk, but due to a hydraulic system malfunction, the crew decided to turn around and fly to Tolmachevo.
The Rosaviatsia Commission, which investigated the incident, found that the cause of the emergency landing was numerous violations and mistakes of the crew. The pilots, having encountered a hydraulic system malfunction during the landing in Omsk, decided to fly to Novosibirsk, having incorrectly assessed the situation with the landing gear. Despite the fact that the landing gear did not retract due to the lack of pressure in the system, the crew thought that they had retracted. As a result, the airplane flew with released landing gear, which resulted in increased fuel consumption and inability to fly to Novosibirsk.
All of this led to the loss of the aircraft, and the airline is incurring significant financial losses: in April this year it was reported that for eight months (Sept. 2023 – Apr. 2024) the lease of a field in the Lenin collective farm cost the carrier 1.2 million rubles, plus almost 9.3 million rubles in costs for aircraft security, fencing, transportation and container costs. The airline also incurred high costs to maintain the technical condition of the airliner.

“In Rosaviatsia the aircraft was excluded from the operator’s certificate and the airworthiness certificate was canceled. The transportation of the A320 from the field was not an easy task: the options considered were removal in one piece, by helicopter, as well as takeoff from a prepared frozen surface. However, none of the options could be realized: the ground density was insufficient and a concrete runway was required for takeoff. The construction of a runway on a remote field turned out to be inexpedient due to too high costs,” the airline said.
Having assessed all the risks, Ural Airlines decided not to use the aircraft in commercial operation. One of the main factors of such a decision in the airline called the lack of support of the manufacturer in the current conditions. Airbus, after the imposition of sanctions against Russia, broke off all partnership relations with Russian civil aviation enterprises, and also ceased to fulfill its contractual obligations to supply spare parts and technical support for its aircraft in Russia.

In September 2024, the airline’s engineering staff began dismantling systems and equipment from the aircraft. First of all, they started dismantling elements of the passenger cabin and cockpit, after which they dismantled radio electronic equipment, hydraulic, fuel and climate systems, as well as both engines. The wing mechanization is also partially dismantled. All components are being sent to Ekaterinburg to the airline’s aviation technical center.
Currently, all cockpit equipment has been completely removed from the aircraft: indicators, consoles, aircraft controls, seats, interior trim and flooring. In the passenger cabin, all seats, cabin trim, flooring, partitions, kitchen block, toilets and electrical equipment have also been dismantled.
Ural Airlines’ fleet currently consists of 51 Airbus airliners: 22 A320s, 14 A321s, 4 A319s, 3 A320neo and 8 A321neo.