Volga-Dnepr Airlines

Volga-Dnepr Airlines
IATA code :	VI
ICAO code :	VDA
Call sign :	VOLGA-DNEPR
Founding:	1990
Seat:	Ulyanovsk , Russia;
Turnstile :	Leipzig / Halle
Home airport :	* Ulyanovsk Krasnoyarsk;
IATA prefix code :	412
Management:	Aleksei Issaikin
Freight volume:	37,616 t (2017)
Fleet size:	17 (+ 4 orders)
Aims:	National and international
Website:	www.volga-dnepr.com

Volga-Dnepr Airlines ( Russian Авиакомпания Волга-Днепр Awiakompanija Wolga-Dnepr ) is a Russian cargo airline with its headquarters and home base in Ulyanovsk and other operations centers in Krasnoyarsk and Leipzig / Halle . It specializes in transports with the Antonov An-124 , the largest mass-produced transport aircraft in the world.

history

Foundation and first years

Volga-Dnepr was founded in August 1990 by the three largest shareholders Aviastar, Antonow and Motor Sitsch and started operations in October 1991. It was the first air transport company in Russia that was not part of Aeroflot . In 2001, the Volga Dnepr Group was founded as a result of strategic development plans to promote the An-124-100 “Ruslan” transport aircraft.

From the beginning, Volga-Dnepr used the Soviet transport aircraft An-124-100. The An-124-100 has a transport volume of up to 120 tons of freight and a cabin volume of 750 m³. The loading equipment (such as ramps and cranes) enables oversized cargo to be transported by air, which previously could only be transported by sea or distributed over several heavy loads by road. For example, Volga-Dnepr regularly transports heavy machinery, generators, equipment for the oil and gas industry, reactors, satellites, airplanes, helicopters, boats, yachts and various other heavy and sensitive equipment.

Since 1992 Volga-Dnepr has been involved in peacekeeping and humanitarian aid operations of the United Nations. In 1994 the airline was recognized as an official UN cargo company and a year later it was included in the UN register of major air cargo service providers.

Development since 2000

In 2004 a new subsidiary, AirBridge Cargo , was founded for scheduled cargo flights. It was the first airline from the East to introduce Boeing 747 F into its fleet.

Volga-Dnepr Airlines have the full certificate for airline operators, which includes personnel training, international flight operations and all types of aircraft maintenance. The airline's maintenance standards have been recognized by the American Department of Aviation (FAA) and the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It is also registered with the ICAO and a member of IATA and TIACA (The International Air Cargo Association).

Since 2006, the company under the program SALIS together with the Ukrainian Antonov Airlines at the airport Leipzig / Halle air transport capacity for peacekeeping and humanitarian missions of European NATO - and EU ready -Staaten. In April 2018, Volga-Dnepr Airlines announced that it would not extend the agreement to the end of the year, as provided for in a contract option.

In the southern summer of 2015/2016, for the first time from November 4, 2015, Volga-Dnepr flew with an IL-76TD -90WD cargo plane, which was also variably equipped with passenger seats in the cargo hold, from Cape Town , South Africa to the Russian Antarctic station Novolasarewskaja - 12 Flights there and back and also a delivery flight within Antarctica. Thereby we cooperated with the DROMLAN project of the Antarctic Logistics Center International (ALCI).

At the end of 2018, the cargo airline agreed a cooperation with the Alibaba Group , making the cargo airline the preferred partner for air transport.

The Volga Dnepr Group

Loading of the rescue submarine DSRV-1 into an Antonov An-124-100 of the Volga-Dnepr Airlines

Unloading of two helicopters from an Antonov An-124-100 of the Volga-Dnepr Airlines

In addition to the actual airline in Ulyanovsk and the managing company in Moscow, the Volga Dnepr Group includes several other subsidiaries worldwide:

Russia Russia

ATRAN
Passage airline
NIK insurance company
Volga-Trucks road transport company
Volga-Dnepr International Educational Center
Volga-Dnepr leasing
AirBridge Cargo

China People's Republic People's Republic of China

Volga-Dnepr China based in Beijing

Ireland Ireland

Volga-Dnepr Ireland Ltd. based in Shannon

United States United States

Volga-Dnepr - Unique Air Cargo, Inc. based in Houston

United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates

Volga-Dnepr Gulf Ltd. based in Sharjah

United Kingdom United Kingdom

Volga-Dnepr UK Ltd. based in Stansted

fleet

As of December 2018, the Volga-Dnepr Airlines fleet consists of 17 aircraft with an average age of 20.8 years:

Aircraft type	number	ordered
Antonov An-124 -100	12
Ilyushin Il-76TD-90WD	5	4th
total	17th	4th

Incidents

A similar Antonov An-12 of the Volga-Dnepr Airlines

On July 24, 1992, an Antonov An-12BK operated by Volga-Dnepr Airlines (CCCP-11342) was approaching Skopje Airport when a severe thunderstorm contracted. The pilots tried to avoid the thunderstorm, but lost their orientation because they did not know their exact position due to the non-functional DME of their destination airport. The machine was flown against a mountain near Tetovo at an altitude of 1600 meters, all 8 occupants were killed (see also the Volga-Dnepr Airlines flight accident near Tetovo ) .