Air Ukraine

Air Ukraine
Авіалінії України

IATA ICAO Callsign 6U UKR AIR UKRAINE
Founded	1992
Ceased operations	2002 (flight operations suspended) 2004 (AOC revoked)
Hubs	Boryspil International Airport
Headquarters	Kiev, Ukraine

Air Ukraine (Ukrainian: Авіалінії України Avialiniyi Ukrayiny) was a state-owned airline from Ukraine, serving as flag carrier of the country from 1992 to 2002. Headquartered in Kiev, Air Ukraine operated scheduled passenger and cargo flights mostly on domestic routes or within the Commonwealth of Independent States, but also to other European cities and to North America.

History

File:Air Ukraine Yakovlev Yak-42 Maiwald.jpg

An Air Ukraine Yakovlev Yak-42 (in the later dedicated Air Ukraine livery) at Stuttgart Airport (1998).

File:Tupolev TU-154B UR-85399 A.Ukraine Vnukovo 29.08.94 edited-2.jpg

Two Air Ukraine Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft (still in Aeroflot colours but with Air Ukraine titles) at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport (1994).

The Dissolution of the Soviet Union during 1990 and 1991 lead to the split-up of former national carrier Aeroflot in 1992, with Air Ukraine being founded out of the Kiev directorate. Soon, other Ukrainian divisions were merged into it to create a national airline.

In December 2002, Air Ukraine was declared to be bankrupt. Attempts to relaunch the company by merging it with Aerosvit Airlines or Ukraine International Airlines failed, and the airline license was finally withdrawn on 23 July 2004.

Fleet

Over the years, Air Ukraine operated the following aircraft types:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Aircraft	Introduced	Retired	Total Number
Antonov An-12	1993	1997	3
Antonov An-24	1993	1995	64
Antonov An-26	1993	1996	12
Antonov An-30	1993	1995	9
Antonov An-32	1993	1999	10
Antonov An-124	1993	1999	2
Boeing 737-200	1994	2004	2
Boeing 737-300	1995	2004	1
Boeing 737-400	1992	2004	2
Ilyushin Il-18	1993	1999	2
Ilyushin Il-62	1993	1999	10
Ilyushin Il-76	1993	1999	13
Let L-410 Turbolet	1993	2000	42
Tupolev Tu-134	1993	1999	32
Tupolev Tu-154	1993	1999	39
Yakovlev Yak-40	1993	1999	36
Yakovlev Yak-42	1993	1999	28

The large number of Soviet-made former Aeroflot aircraft came to Air Ukraine upon its foundation in 1992, with all of them being phased out by 1999. When the airline was shut down in 2002, only three Boeing-737-300 and one Boeing-737-400 were operational.

Incidents

• On 5 September 1992, the crew of an Air Ukraine Tupolev Tu-154 (registered CCCP-85269) with 147 people on board had to execute a belly-landing at Boryspil International Airport because the landing gear could not be deployed. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
• On 27 October 1993, the nosegear of an Air Ukraine Let L-410 Turbolet (registered UR-67536) was torn off while on the ground at Tyumen Airport when the pilots accidentally maneuvered the aircraft with eight people on board off the paved taxiway.
• On 23 January 1995, another Turbolet (registered UR-67115) was destroyed when it crashed on a frozen lake whilst approaching Provedenia Airport in Russia because of an engine failure. The three crew members on board had been on an empty ferry flight from Anadyr Airport, which was planned to continue onwards to Honduras, to where the aircraft had been sold. There were no fatalities.
• On 4 April of the same year, the pilots of an Air Ukraine Antonov An-26 (registered UR-26049) tried to take off from Palana Airport without having released the brakes. The aircraft thus was not able to get airborne, and overshot the runway, being damaged beyond economical repair. The nine persons that had been on the chartered flight to Ust-Pakhachi Airport survived the accident.