OAO Kuban Airlines () was an

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

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It operated domestic flights within Russia, as well as international charters. Its main base was

Krasnodar International Airport Krasnodar International Airport (), also known as Pashkovsky Airport (), (IATA: KRR, ICAO: URKK) is the main airport serving the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. It is an international airport, and is located 12 km east of the centre of K ...

. Its name comes from

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

Province in southern Russia. On 11 December 2012 Kuban Airlines ceased operations due to financial difficulties.

History

Kuban Airlines was founded as a division of

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

in 1932. It became an independent company in 1992, owned by the state (51%) and the airline employees (49%). In February 2010, Kuban Airlines introduced a new livery to its first

Boeing 737-300 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 Febru ...

aircraft. The new livery was a dark green background with sunflowers running from the back half of the fuselage and up the tail. The engines were also coloured in dark green. On 18 May 2010, Kuban Airlines announced the receipt of their first of four ordered

s. The airline also announced that beginning in 2011 their

Yakolev The JSC A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau () is a Russian aircraft designer and manufacturer (design office prefix Yak). Its head office is in Aeroport District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is a subsidiary of Yakovlev Corporation. Ove ...

aircraft were to be retired and replaced by new

Antonov An-148 The Antonov An-148 () is a regional jet designed and built by Antonov of Ukraine. Development of the aircraft was started in the 1990s, and its maiden flight took place on 17 December 2004. The aircraft completed its certification programme o ...

Boeing 737-700 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it has been pr ...

aircraft.

Merger with Sky Express

In September 2011, it was announced that

n low-cost carrier

Sky Express Sky Express may refer to: * Sky Express (Greece), a Greek airline * Sky Express (Russia), a defunct Russian airline {{disambiguation ...

was to be merged into Kuban Airlines. On 29 October 2011, the two airlines merged, bringing

Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final ass ...

and

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

aircraft into the Kuban Airlines fleet.

Fleet

The Kuban Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft in November 2012:

Previously operated

Prior to November 2012, the airline has also operated:

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

, 3–9 October 2006 *

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 the Kyiv ...

Tupolev Tu-154M The Tupolev Tu-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 airlines for several decades, ...

Yakovlev Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 (; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airliner produced in the Soviet Union ...

– Retired on 1 November 2012

Accidents and incidents

* On 26 December 1993, Flight 5719, operated by an Antonov An-26b, crashed near

Gyumri Shirak International Airport Gyumri Shirak International Airport () is an international airport serving Gyumri in the province of Shirak, Armenia. It is about from the center of Gyumri. It was inaugurated in 1961, and is the second largest airport in the country, after Ye ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

during an attempted

go-around In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on Final_approach_(aeronautics), final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for var ...

. The plane had been overloaded, causing it to stall and crash. Of the 36 people on board, only one survived the crash.

References

External links

Kuban AirlinesKuban Airlines
(Archive) {{Airlines of Russia Airlines established in 1992 Airlines disestablished in 2012 Former Aeroflot divisions Defunct airlines of Russia Companies based in Krasnodar