MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. The Rossiya special aviation group responsible for transporting the country’s top leadership will shortly receive new domestic planes and helicopters, Rossiya CEO Konstantin Tereshchenko told TASS on Wednesday.

"We are waiting for our aircraft pool to be replenished with two new Il-96-300 special-designation airliners and three Tu-214 passenger versions. We are also waiting for the arrival of two new Mi-38 helicopters," the chief executive said.

The program of the delivery of new aircraft to the presidential aviation group has been shaped for the period until 2030, he added.

No special requirements are set for the airliners of the presidential aviation group, Tereshchenko said.

"There are general requirements for all civil aviation. These are normal serial-produced aircraft but with some additions," he explained.

Full autonomy

"The main requirement for the personnel and aircraft of the special aviation group is that everything must operate. Even if one seat does not recline, we frequently change the airliner and do not send it on a flight," the aviation group head said.

"Regarding all the other airlines, they have so-called deferred faults when an airliner can be cleared for a flight with permissible malfunctions that do not affect flight safety. This is not the case in our aviation group and absolutely everything must operate well," Tereshchenko stressed.

Another mandatory rule is to provide maintenance for the aircraft, using the aviation group’s own staff. For this purpose, the aviation group has a staff of technicians, he explained.

"We must work like a submarine in its full autonomous mode to ensure that no other persons can touch our aircraft," the chief executive said.

Russian presidential aviation group

The Rossiya special aviation group of the Russian presidential administration is responsible for the aircraft of the country’s president, the president-elect, the prime minister of Russia, the speakers of the State Duma and the Federation Council, the heads of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, the Prosecutor General, the chairman of the Investigative Committee, the head of the Kremlin administration and the Russian foreign minister.

The history of the Rossiya special aviation group dates back to 1956 when the USSR’s top officials changed military planes flown by Air Force pilots for airliners of a special-designated air team set up within Aeroflot at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. The team was subsequently called Separate Aviation Group No. 235. The state transport company Rossiya was established on its basis in 1995 and a special-purpose aviation group subordinate to the presidential administration was spun off from it in 2009.

The Russian presidential special aviation group is celebrating its 65th anniversary on May 5.