MIAT (Mongolyn Irgenii Agaaryn Teever (Монголын Иргэний Агаарын Тээвэр , Mongolian Civil Air Transport)) Mongolian Airlines, ; "Mongolian Civil Air Transport" is the

national airline A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. His ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

, headquartered in the MIAT Building in the country's capital of

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

. The airline operates international scheduled services from its base at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Sergelen, near Ulaanbaatar.

History

Airbus_A310-304,_MIAT_Mongolian_Airlines_JP6030496

Communist era

MIAT Mongolian Airlines was established in 1956. It began operations with the help of

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

and began flights on 7 July 1956 using an

Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 ("kukuruznik"—corn crop duster; USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22, NATO reporting name Colt) is a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bure ...

from Ulaanbaatar to

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is the 25th-larges ...

. The airline also used Soviet-built

Ilyushin Il-14 The Ilyushin Il-14 (NATO reporting name: Crate) was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950 in aviation, 1950, and entered service in 1954. The Il-14 was also manufactured in Eas ...

s for flights to international destinations like

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. During the 1960s and 1970s, the airline obtained

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Ir ...

and

An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twin ...

twin turboprops. A

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

jet on lease from

was introduced in the late 1980s.

Post-communist era

In 1992, MIAT bought five Chinese

Harbin Y-12 The Harbin Y-12 () is a high wing twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft built by Harbin Aircraft Industry Group (HAIG). Design and development The Y-12 started as a development of the Harbin Y-11 airframe called Y-11T in 1980. The design fe ...

commuter aircraft and acquired a

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

from

Korean Air Korean Air Co., Ltd. (), operating as Korean Air (Korean Air Lines before 1984), is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights. The present-day Korean Air ...

, one more following in 1994. An

Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300, the first twin-jet wide-bod ...

was leased in 1998, and a new

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

was leased in 2002 to replace the aging 727-200 fleet. Between 2003 and 2008, MIAT's An-24 and An-26 fleet was gradually retired. In April 2008, MIAT received its second

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boein ...

aircraft on lease from CIT Aerospace. In July 2008, MIAT ended scheduled domestic flights completely. In June 2009, the airline temporarily resumed scheduled domestic flights to Mörön and Khovd using its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. In late 2009, MIAT flew charter flights to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and

Sanya Sanya (; also spelled Samah) is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan Province in South China. According to the 2020 census, the total population of Sanya was 1,031,396 inhabitants, livi ...

, a popular resort city in Hainan, China. In June 2010, the airline's flights were brought to a halt due to a mechanics' strike. However, the situation was resolved with the replacement of the CEO and Technical Director. In early 2011, MIAT signed an agreement with Air Lease Corporation to lease two former

China Eastern China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (), also known as China Eastern, is an airline headquartered in the China Eastern Airlines Building, on the grounds of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai. It is ...

Boeing 767-300ERs until 2013. The first aircraft entered service in May 2011 with the second following in November 2011. In 2011 the Airbus A310 was retired after serving MIAT Mongolian Airlines for 13 years. In June 2011, MIAT began regular flights to Hong Kong. The company also ordered three aircraft, a Boeing 767-300ER and two Boeing 737-800s, to be delivered in 2013 and 2016 respectively. The order marks the first time in two decades that MIAT has chosen to expand its fleet by purchasing new aircraft straight from the manufacturer rather than leasing them. In January 2019, MIAT announced flights to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

to start from summer of 2019. In addition, it announced the leasing of 3

Boeing 737 MAX The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with ...

aircraft to be delivered in January, May, and October 2019, thereby replacing two of its aircraft whose leases were due to expire in 2019, together with the implementation of a self-checkin system. In December 2019, MIAT announced its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft are to be delivered in spring of 2022. On the 21st of June 2020, MIAT flew for the first time in history to the United States. With a Boeing 767-300, they flew from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, which is the first non-stop between Mongolia and the United States in history.

Destinations

Codeshare agreements

MIAT Mongolian Airlines has

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

s with the following airlines: *

Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have ...

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

Fleet

MIAT_Mongolian_Airlines,_EI-CXV,_Boeing_737-8CX_(37917061824)

Current fleet

As of March 2021, MIAT Mongolian Airlines operates an all-Boeing fleet consisting of the following aircraft:

Former fleet

MIAT has previously operated a variety of aircraft types, including: *

Airbus A310-300 The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers. Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300, the first twin-jet wide-bod ...

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A34 ...

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 ( NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Tw ...

* Antonov An-30 *

Boeing 737-500 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

Boeing 737-700 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boeing ...

Kamov Ka-26 The Kamov Ka-26 (NATO reporting name Hoodlum) is a Soviet light utility helicopter with co-axial rotors. Development The Ka-26 entered production in 1969 and 816 were built. A variant with a single turboshaft engine is the Ka-126. A twin turb ...

Mil Mi-4 The Mil Mi-4 (USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 36", NATO reporting name "Hound") is a Soviet transport helicopter that served in both military and civilian roles. Design and development The Mi-4 was designed in response to the American H-19 Chick ...

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition to ...

Polikarpov Po-2 The Polikarpov Po-2 (also U-2, for its initial ''uchebnyy'', 'training', role as a flight instruction aircraft) served as an all-weather multirole Soviet biplane, nicknamed ''Kukuruznik'' (russian: Кукурузник,Gunston 1995, p. 292. NA ...

Yakovlev Yak-12 The Yakovlev Yak-12 (russian: Яковлев Як-12, also transcribed as Jak-12, NATO reporting name: "Creek") is a light multirole STOL aircraft used by the Soviet Air Force, Soviet civilian aviation and other countries from 1947 onwards. D ...

Accidents and incidents

MIAT Mongolian Airlines has suffered the following incidents and accidents since commencing operations: *4 August 1963: Avia 14 Super MONGOL-105 crashed into the side of

Otgontenger Otgontenger ( mn, Отгонтэнгэр, , "youngest sky") is the highest peak in the Khangai Mountains in Mongolia. Its summit is currently calculated to reach an elevation of 4,008 meters above mean sea level (some earlier topographic maps re ...

Mountain; there were no survivors. *17 September 1973:

B BNMAU-4206 crashed into the side of a mountain in Hovd Province of Mongolia during descent. *1 May 1979: Antonov An-24B BNMAU-1202 ran off the runway on landing at Erdenet Airport. *31 October 1981: PZL-Mielec An-2R MONGOL-613 crashed in Sukhbaatar Province. *25 June 1983: Antonov An-24RV BNMAU-8401 ran off the runway on landing at

Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport,, formerly called Chinggis Khaan International Airport, from 2005 to 2020 , is a semi-operational international airport serving Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, situated southwest of the capital. Largely replaced b ...

, collapsing the right landing gear and rolling over; all 47 on board survived. The aircraft had suffered engine failure on final approach and had been losing altitude. *April 1985: Antonov An-24RV BNMAU-10207 reportedly crashed on approach to an airport in Khovsgol Province; the wreck was reportedly seen at

in 1995. *1985: Antonov An-24RV BNMAU-10210 force-landed in Khovsgol Province after both engines were shut down by mistake during a steep approach; the aircraft was written off. *23 January 1987: Antonov An-24RV BNMAU-7710 crashed on landing at Buyant-Ukhaa International Airport; there were no casualties. *26 January 1990: Antonov An-24RV BNMAU-10208 force-landed near

Ulaangom Airport Ulaangom Airport is a public airport located 13 km northwest of Ulaangom, a city in the Uvs Province of Mongolia. It handled 14,669 passengers in 2001. The construction of the new airport with paved runway started in February 2007. It was c ...

after the pilot failed to locate the airport at night; all 41 on board survived. *5 December 1992: Harbin Y-12 II D-0066 crashed on takeoff from Choibaisan Airport. *23 April 1993:

BNMAU-14102 struck the side of Marz Mountain during descent into Ölgii Airport en route from Ulaanbaatar after the crew began descending too soon, killing all 32 on board; wreckage was found on 7 May 1993. *21 September 1995: Flight 557, an Antonov An-24RV (BNMAU-10103) struck a mountain near Choho Geologoh Uul during approach to

Mörön Airport Mörön Airport is a public airport located in Mörön, the capital of Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia. Airlines and destinations See also *List of airports in Mongolia *Gelenkhüü Gelenkhüü ( mn, Гэлэнхүү, c. 1877–19 ...

en route from Ulaanbaatar after the crew descended too soon; of the 43 on board, only a passenger survived. The accident remains the deadliest in Mongolia. *10 June 1997: Flight 447, a Harbin Y-12-II (JU-1020), lost control and crashed after encountering windshear while on final approach to Mandalgobi Airport, killing seven of 12 on board. *26 May 1998: Harbin Y-12 JU-1017 crashed into a mountain near Erdenet due to pilot error, killing all 28 passengers and crew on board.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miat Mongolian Airlines Airlines of Mongolia Airlines established in 1956 1956 establishments in Mongolia Companies based in Ulaanbaatar