Ekaterinburg Airport Became Available for Embraer Aircraft

15.05.2009 — News

THE SVERDLOVSK OBLAST.

Ekaterinburg Airport Koltsovo has got the permission to receive commercial regional jets Embraer 170 and Embraer 190. The airport management told RusBusinessNews that Finnair would be the first to take advantage of the situation; its Embraer will arrive in the capital of the Sverdlovsk Oblast from Helsinki on 19 May.

The above-mentioned Embraer aircraft have 78 and 108 seats correspondingly, and the range of 4 thousand kilometers. Now that the passenger traffic is dropping, the Embraer aircraft will be a good option to more spacious Boeing-737-500 and A-319. Moreover, Embraer has nearly twofold price advantage.

Koltsovo became the fourth Russian airport after the Moscow hub, St.Petersburg and Murmansk, where such aircraft can be maintained. The certification of the Ekaterinburg airport for the reception of Embraer will hopefully increase the attractiveness of the airport for foreign companies. In particular, Arkia Israel Airlines that operates such aircraft has already expressed the interest in flying to Koltsovo.

In March 2009 Embraer started the new strategic Lifetime programme. It will guarantee the complete technical support of pre-owned aircraft Embraer delivered to the Russian Federation during the whole maintenance period. ECC Leasing Company Ltd, the Embraer subsidiary in Ireland, is responsible for the Lifetime programme. ECC is planning to cover up to 50% of the Russian regional jet market.