MINERALNYE VODY, October 19 (Itar-Tass) — Transaero Airlines has started to operate regular flights from Moscow to Mineralnye Vody. The first Boeing 737 with passengers on board landed on Wednesday at the largest airport of the North Caucasus.
“I am glad that the first flight has brought 84 passengers and the same number will be transported back, it’s a good load - above the industry average,” the airline’s Deputy Director General Dmitry Stolyarov said.
The airport sources said that it is already the 19th airline that came to Mineralnye Vody. Transaero intends to perform daily flights on highly comfortable Boeing airliners.
In the future it is planned to expand the Transaero flights network from Mineralnye Vody, including abroad, the airport’s Director General Roman Chuyev said.
According to him, on November 24 the number of air carriers in Mineralnye Vody will reach 20. “Nordwind Airlines intends to organise a flight to Bangkok from Mineralnye Vody. It is also planned to expand the route network from Mineralnye Vody to a number of major airports in Europe and the Middle East,” Chuyev said.
Over the first nine months of the current year, about 800 thousand people have already been transported. “And in December we plan to meet our millionth passenger,” the airport official said.
Mineralnye Vody Airport (IATA: MRV, ICAO: URMM) in Stavropol Krai, Russia, is located 4 km West of Mineralnye Vody. It features a civilian terminal area on its west side with 41 parking spots. The airfield houses a Tupolev Tu-154 maintenance facility on the east side.
Transaero began as a charter airline with aircraft leased from Aeroflot. It was incorporated as a joint stock company on 28 December 1990 and was the first non-Aeroflot company approved for scheduled passenger services in the Soviet Union. Its first charter service was Moscow to Tel Aviv on November 5, 1991. In July 1992, Transaero received its own Ilyushin Il-86. It became the first non-Aeroflot airline to operate scheduled flights in Russia when it launched its Moscow - Norilsk flight in January 1993 followed by Kiev, Sochi and Almaty later the same year. Its first international scheduled route from Moscow to Tel Aviv was inaugurated in November 1993.
In April 1993, Transaero started operating western aircraft when it received its first Boeing 737-200, followed by its first Boeing 757-200 in April 1994.
Transaero was also the first Russian airline with a frequent flyer program, which established in 1995. It was also the first Russian airline with an FAA aircraft maintenance certificate, which it obtained in 1997.
In December 1998 a weekly service between Moscow and London Gatwick was started. Transaero operated its first Boeing 737-700 in 1998, followed by Boeing 767-200 and Boeing 737-300 in 2002 and Boeing 767-300 and Boeing 737-400 in 2003. An agreement was signed to purchase 10 Tupolev Tu-214-300 in the same year. In 2005, Transaero became the first Russian passenger airline to operate the Boeing 747 when it started services on 11 July 2005 with a leased, ex-Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 747-200 on scheduled services from Moscow to Tel Aviv. The aircraft will also operate summer charter flights to holiday destinations.
In May 2005, Transaero added a flight between Moscow and Montreal, marking the first time the airline flew to Canada. On June 21, 2006, Transaero also began operating non-stop flights between Moscow and Toronto. The service to Toronto was temporarily suspended in September 2008, but has since been restored, whereas the service to Montreal has been cancelled as of 2009.
In November 2007 the airline announced a new scheduled bi-weekly service between Moscow and Sydney, Australia via Hong Kong, commencing December 24, 2007. The flight was operated by Boeing 767-300 equipment. This route is now cancelled.
The now quadruple daily London-Moscow bmi service is jointly operated by bmi in partnership with Transaero via a codeshare agreement. Bmi operates two daily services in each direction and Transero operates the other two. The two airlines also award frequent flyer miles for each other's flights and status miles on the LHR-DME route.
In October 2009 Austrian Airlines AG and Transaero Airlines have concluded a code-share agreement in Moscow on the routing Vienna to Moscow. Under the Agreement Austrian Airlines will put its code on Transaero’s daily Moscow-Vienna-Moscow flight, while Transaero will put its code on one of the three daily Vienna-Moscow-Vienna flights which are operated by Austrian.