Tatarstan Airlines was the regional airline of the

Republic of Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...

, part of the

Russian Federation 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 was based at Kazan Airport in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, Tatarstan, Russia and operated from 1993 until 2013.

History

Tatarstan Airlines was founded in 1993 Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Air Traffic Management Corporation", ''Airline Reference'', Vol. 1, Russian Federation, 20 February 2007, p. 423 and started flights in 1999. It operated scheduled flights to destinations in Russia and abroad including seasonal charter flights to holiday destinations. In 2012, Tatarstan Airlines announced that it would work with

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

to make Kazan airport a federal hub. In November 2013, the crash of Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 killed all 50 passengers and crew. Russia's air transport regulator Rosaviatsiya recommended that Tatarstan Airlines' operating license be withdrawn after air incident investigators concluded that the crash was due to overworked and inadequately trained crew. The airline's operating license was revoked on 31 December 2013 and its aircraft were transferred to

Ak Bars Aero OJSC Ak Bars Aero (), formerly OJSC Bugulma Air Enterprise (), was an airline with its head office at Bugulma Airport in Bugulma, Russia. It operated regional scheduled and charter passenger services. Its main base was Bugulma Airport. History ...

Destinations

Tatarstan Airlines operated scheduled passenger services to cities in Russia including Moscow,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and

Makhachkala Makhachkala, previously known as Petrovskoye (1844–1857) and Port-Petrovsk (1857–1921), or by the local Kumyk language, Kumyk name of Anji, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Dagestan, Russia. ...

as well as international destinations

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, Khujand,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Prague and

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. Tatarstan Airlines operated charter services in Russia,

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

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 ...

. In 2010–2011, Tatarstan Airlines flew 40 routes. In 2009 it carried 577,000 passengers, which grew to 603,000 in 2010 and 824,000 in 2011.Aircompany “Tatarstan” , Company
Tatarstan.aero (22 December 2011).

Codeshare agreements

Tatarstan Airlines had codeshare agreements with the following airlines (as of November 2013): *

* Czech Airlines (

SkyTeam SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, after Star Alliance and Oneworld. Its annual passenger count is 624 million customers (2024), the second ...

) *

(

Star Alliance Star Alliance is an airline alliance headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. Founded on 14 May 1997, it was the world's first global airline alliance. Star Alliance has 25 member airlines that operate a combined fleet of over 5,000 aircraft, servi ...

)

Fleet

Accidents and incidents

On 17 November 2013, Boeing 737-500 (VQ-BBN) arriving from Moscow crashed on landing at Kazan International Airport. All 44 passengers and six crew members were killed. The crash resulted in the temporary closure of the airport.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Airlines of Russia Airlines established in 1993 Airlines disestablished in 2013 Defunct airlines of Russia Transport in Kazan Companies based in Kazan 1993 establishments in Russia 2013 disestablishments in Russia