On November 6th 2009 the first out of six An-148 jets ordered by Rossiya – Russian Airlines (part of Aeroflot Group) joined the carrier’s fleet. The aircraft was delivered to St. Petersburg from the plant of Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company (also known as VASO) under a lease agreement, the airline’s press-service reports.

«Since that time the airline started operation of a brand-new aircraft type. In 2010 the carrier took delivery of 5 more An-148 jets. An-148 aircraft replaced Tu-134 liners, which were put out of operation», - the press-service noted.

Acquisition of An-148 jets allowed the airline to operate short-haul flights, where liners with low passenger capacity are required. At that the geography of flights of An-148 includes international flights (since 2011). «The acquisition of jets with low passenger capacity allowed the airline to develop its route network step-by-step, open new routes and increase the frequency of flights for most popular destinations,” CEO of Rossiya – Russian Airlines, Vasiliy Nikolaevich Meshkov, said.

CEO of Ilyushin Finance & Co. leasing company (delivered An-148 jets to the carrier), Alexander Rubtsov, noted that Rossiya played the key role in the fate of An-148 aircraft in Russia: «Specialists of Rossiya working with the An-148 aircraft have managed to achieve competitive indicators in terms of flying time, reliability and commercial load factor. At present we are confident that the choice in favor of An-148 jet made by our customer was justified and this aircraft will meet the company’s expectations».