URGA International Joint Stock Aviation Company ( Ukr. Міжнародна акціонерна авіаційна компанія «УРГА»), branded as Air Urga, is a
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...
based in
Kropyvnytskyi
Kropyvnytskyi (, ) is a city in central Ukraine, situated on the Inhul, Inhul River. It serves as the administrative center of Kirovohrad Oblast. Population:
Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name several times. The settlement ...
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
.
History
The airline was established and started operations in August 1993. It was founded as International Joint Stock Aviation Company URGA, initially concentrating on charter flights. Regular passenger flights from
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
and Kryvyi Rih were added in May 1997. Air Urga is owned by the State Property Fund of Ukraine (51%) and American International Consulting Corp (43.5%). It has 378 employees.
In 2014, the airline launched its first regular passenger flight - Kyiv-
Lviv
Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
.
As of May 2017, the number of destinations that the company can fly to has been significantly reduced due to being put on the EU's air safety blacklist along with 180 other airlines. URGA will be unable to fly to EU destinations until these safety issues are addressed. However, as of May 2017, the airline was not operating any regular passenger flights.
Destinations
Air Urga operates charter passenger and cargo flights from various Ukrainian airports to destinations in
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, and
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
. Its main base is the
Kropyvnytskyi Airport
Kropyvnytskyi Airport () is an airport in Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine. It also serves State Flight Academy of Ukraine
The airport is capable of handling An-2, An-24, An-26, An-28, An-30, An-32, An-72, An-74, An-140, L-410, Saab 340, Yak-4 ...
(KGO).
Fleet
As of June 2018, the Air Urga fleet includes the following aircraft:
* 5 Antonov An-26-100
* 2
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 Twins ...