Ikar (), legally ''Ikar Airlines LLC'' and operating as ''Pegas Fly'' from 2015 until 2022, is a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

headquartered in

Orenburg Orenburg (, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies in Eastern Europe, along the banks of the Ural River, being approximately southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is close to the ...

and based at

Orenburg Tsentralny Airport Orenburg Airport () is a civil airport located about 25 km east of Orenburg city. Now defunct Orenair had its head office on the airport property. The airport was built at its present location in the mid-1970s. In 2011, the government of ...

, however operating flights from several Russian airports. It is currently banned from flying into the EU.

History

Initially the company, then operating under the Ikar brand, operated a fleet of

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the ...

helicopters for aerial cargo operations mainly carrying bulky loads externally. In 2015, the airline rebranded to become Pegas Fly, although the brand was changed the airlines legal name was kept as Ikar Airlines. As of 2022, the airline was forced to change to another brand name, as the rights to use ''Pegas Fly'' have been expired and cannot be renewed. Therefore since 2022, the airline uses its original name ''Ikar'' again.ch-aviation.com - Ikar (Russian Federation)
retrieved 8 February 2023

Destinations

As of May 2024, the airline operates scheduled flights in three countries on 40 routes. Ikar operates scheduled services to the following destinations: The airline also operates charters on behalf of Pegas Touristik to tourist destinations in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Fleet

The Ikar fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of September 2024):

Accidents and incidents

*On 3 December 1995, a Mil Mi-8AMT (RA-25581) leased to Investkorp of Papua New Guinea - pilot error during very poor visibility led to a decrease in rotor speed up to 90 percent at an altitude of just 7 metres as the helicopter continued to descend, understandably at a greater rate. The helicopter crashed; the mechanic was seriously injured. Investigation revealed that the crew had received insufficient training and it was revealed that those involved were not previously certified to fly the Mil Mi-8AMT; their certificates had been signed in New Guinea under false pretence. It was also revealed that Ikar was only allowed to fly domestic routes and routes in the CIS, their activities in New Guinea had breached this order when they delivered RA-25518 and RA-27003 to New Guinea complete with their staff. *On 11 July 2012, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter was considered 'lost' sparking a scare when connection with the helicopter had failed. Searches were conducted in a forest region in

Magadan Magadan ( rus, Магадан, p=məɡɐˈdan) is a Port of Magadan, port types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative centre of Magadan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the isthmus of the Staritsky Peninsula by the ...

where the helicopter had been patrolling a forest fire situation. Connection was broken at 3pm (local time) that day with ten firefighters and four crew-members aboard. Another Mil Mi-8 and an Antonov An-26 were dispatched to locate the helicopter which was found safely landed on the ground in the forest, apparently there were connection issues but the helicopter and crew were uninjured.

References

External links