Pegas Fly

Pegas Fly, previously named Ikar,^[4] is a Russian charter airline headquartered in Krasnoyarsk and based at Yemelyanovo International Airport. It is a subsidiary of Nordwind Airlines.

History

Initially the company, then named Ikar, was operating a fleet of Mil Mi-8 helicopters for aerial cargo operations mainly carrying bulky loads externally.^[5] It was also responsible for patrolling forest fires in the Magadan locality of Russia. In 2013 it leased several civil aircraft from Nordwind Airlines and started flying charter flights for Russian tour operator Pegas Touristik and subsequently changed its name from Ikar to Pegas Fly.

Destinations

Currently, the airline operates scheduled and charter flights of passengers, baggage and cargo on domestic and international routes. The route network of airline in Russia also covers socially oriented directions. Participating in subsidized transportation programs, the airline provides an increase in traffic availability in such important areas as the Far East and the Republic of Crimea. The airline was one of the first who started regular transportation to Simferopol in 2014. LLC IKAR performs regular flights from Moscow to Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and Magadan, as well as to Sochi and Simferopol from Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Perm, Nizhnevartovsk, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Samara, Kazan and Ufa. Charter airline programs cover the Asia-Pacific region (Thailand, Vietnam), North Africa (Jordan, Tunisia) and the Mediterranean (Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, the Balearics).

Fleet

Pegas Fly Boeing 767-300ER departing from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport

The Pegas Fly fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):^[6]

Accidents and incidents

• On 3 December 1995, a Mil Mi-8AMT (RA-25581) leased to Investkorp of Papua New Guinea - pilot error during very poor visibility led to a decrease in rotor speed up to 90 percent at an altitude of just 7 metres as the helicopter continued to descend, understandably at a greater rate. The helicopter crashed; the mechanic was seriously injured. Investigation revealed that the crew had received insufficient training and it was revealed that those involved were not previously certified to fly the Mil Mi-8AMT; their certificates had been signed in New Guinea under false pretence. It was also revealed that Ikar was only allowed to fly domestic routes and routes in the CIS, their activities in New Guinea had breached this order when they delivered RA-25518 and RA-27003 to New Guinea complete with their staff.^[7]
• On 11 July 2012, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter was considered 'lost' sparking a scare when connection with the helicopter had failed. Searches were conducted in a forest region in Magadan where the helicopter had been patrolling a forest fire situation. Connection was broken at 3pm (local time) that day with ten firefighters and four crew-members aboard. Another Mil Mi-8 and an Antonov An-26 were dispatched to locate the helicopter^[8][9] which was found safely landed on the ground in the forest, apparently there were connection issues but the helicopter and crew were uninjured.^[10]

See also

• List of small airlines and helicopter airlines of Russia

References

External links

Media related to Ikar at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website