UTair Aviation acquired three Mi-171 helicopters from Ulan-Ude aviation plant (U-UAZ – part of Russian Helicopters Holding Company), the airline’s press-service reports. AEX.ru
These helicopters have been delivered in the network of the contract on delivery of 40 Mi-171s signed by UTair Aviation and Russian Helicopters at MAKS-2011 airshow on August 17th 2011 in the presence of Vladimir Putin (ex-Chairman of the government).
Ulan-Ude aviation plant has already delivered 44 helicopters to UTair in 2008-2011 within the framework of two contracts. The current fleet of the carrier includes about 50 Mi-171 helicopters manufactured by U-UAZ.
«UTair needs vehicles, which are able to meet the highest requirements of the airline’s customers, in order to develop new markets. It is planned to operate new Mi-171s in Latin America», - said CEO of UTair Aviation, Andrey Martirosov.
Three helicopters delivered in July 2012 will be operated by the carrier’s Peru-based subsidiary UTair-HeliSur. At present this company is successfully operating 6 Mi-171s manufactured by Ulan-Ude aviation plant.
«The completion of the first stage of this new large contract on delivery of Mi-171 helicopters is the significant milestone for Russian helicopter industry and for the carrier. UTair is one of our largest customers and the long-standing partner of Russian Helicopters», - Leonid Belikh, Managing Director of U-UAZ, noted. – In order to fulfill our obligations we intend to perform some work including certification of this helicopter with a more complicated configuration».











