Red Wings has become Chelyabinsk Airport first base airline

The SSJ100 aircraft, registration number RA-89141, performed its first scheduled flight from Domodedovo (Moscow) to Balandino (Chelyabinsk) today. The newest Russian airliner will be the first aircraft based at Balandino Airport, and RedWings will be the airport first base airline in modern times.

On Sunday, the 1st of May, the Superjet will start its regional programme from Chelyabinsk. So far the schedule has four itineraries - to Gelendzhik, Makhachkala, Murmansk and Norilsk. All these itineraries are unique, and are operated only by Red Wings. The regional programme from Balandino is subsidized by the government of the Chelyabinsk Region, which has made it possible to launch the flights and offer affordable prices for passengers.

The Chelyabinsk regional government is increasing the number of subsidized regional destinations year after year. Even in 2020, we have not abandoned our commitment. This year, we are already subsidizing 16 destinations and plan to increase their number in the future,' said Sergey Shal, first vice-governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, at the liner welcoming ceremony.

— Thanks to the support and very prompt decisions of the government and governor of the Chelyabinsk region, Alexei Teksler, we are moving to the practical stage of the project to base the project in Balandino. We are happy to report that we will soon begin sales and commence flights from Chelyabinsk to three more unique regional destinations - Kaliningrad, Khanty-Mansiysk, and Nizhnevartovsk. In June we will fly to Sochi and Simferopol. Thus, the itinerary network from Chelyabinsk will amount to 9 destinations - this is a very good spread, especially at the start of the project, said Evgeny Klyucharev, Red Wings CEO.

— We have been looking for a base airline for Chelyabinsk for a long time, we conducted a lot of negotiations. And we are glad that we reached an agreement with Red Wings. The lovely city of Chelyabinsk and the wonderful terminal for domestic lines that we built deserve a base airline. And the residents of Chelyabinsk and the region should travel around Russia and the world from their home town, said Sergey Rudakov, CEO of Novaport Holding.

The airport base Superjet will undergo light forms of maintenance and be parked between flights exactly at Balandino, which will provide the airport with additional income and the Chelyabinsk Region budget with additional taxes. Red Wings Airlines has also registered a branch in the Chelyabinsk Region and has become a tax resident in the region.