- Document
- GOV-02
- Revision
- 1.9
- Effective
- 3 September 2026
- Issued
Fleet and Operations
Revision: 1.9 Effective: 3 September 2026
Fleet
The Airline operates a three-type fleet, matched to route demand and the winter operating conditions of the North Caucasus.
- DHC-6 Twin Otter (Series 400). A twin-engine, 19-seat aircraft for the shortest feeder routes, chosen for its short-field performance and cold-weather operating record. Being unpressurised, it flies only routes that remain on one side of the main Caucasus divide. The Airline operates the current-production Series 400 at standard gross weight. It is the one purchased type and therefore the longest-held asset in the fleet, and it is acquired new so that the four aircraft enter service as an identical fleet with manufacturer support behind them.
- Embraer E175. 76 seats (8C 68Y), the core aircraft for the domestic and regional feeder tier.
- Embraer E195. 112 seats (12C 100Y), the flex aircraft for the Russia trunk tier, the Turkey and Middle East tier, and any feeder rotation that falls inside its turnaround window at base. The E195 fleet operates in the Advanced Range (AR) variant, giving it the range to reach Middle East destinations with full operational margin. The E175 fleet operates a mixed Standard/Long Range (STD/LR) configuration, matched to its shorter route assignments.
E175 and E195 share enough commonality that crews move between them through differences training rather than a full type rating, keeping training and spares simple across the fleet.
Fleet Table
| Registration | Type | Variant | Configuration | Max Range (nm) | Turnaround (min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RA-08801 | E195 | AR | 12C 100Y | 2200 | 40 |
| RA-08802 | E195 | AR | 12C 100Y | 2200 | 40 |
| RA-08803 | E175 | STD / LR | 8C 68Y | 1650-2000 | 30 |
| RA-08804 | E175 | STD / LR | 8C 68Y | 1650-2000 | 30 |
| RA-08805 | DHC-6 | 400 | 19Y | 800 | 20 |
| RA-08806 | DHC-6 | 400 | 19Y | 800 | 20 |
| RA-08807 | DHC-6 | 400 | 19Y | 800 | 20 |
| RA-08808 | DHC-6 | 400 | 19Y | 800 | 20 |
Acquisition and Maintenance
E175 and E195 aircraft are leased. The DHC-6 is purchased outright.
Maintenance is contracted to established third-party MRO providers with E-Jet capability at launch. DHC-6 maintenance is contracted separately to a provider approved for the type, the Airline holding no capability of its own for the one type it owns outright. In-house line maintenance is introduced as the fleet grows.
Operational Base
The Airline operates from a single base at Sochi, where aircraft and crew are stationed and maintenance and spares are held.
Krasnodar and Nalchik are focus cities. They hold direct routes without based crew or equipment, reached by tag routing on an existing rotation and by aircraft remaining overnight on a rotating basis. No single tail is dedicated to an away overnight, so every aircraft returns to Sochi on a regular cycle for maintenance.
All other airports are spokes, worked out and back from Sochi, with one exception.
The DHC-6 fleet stands overnight at the coastal outstations. Each coastal route holds two aircraft, one beginning the operating day at Sukhum or Krasnodar and one at Sochi, and the two exchange ends each night. Every tail therefore stands at Sochi on alternate nights and cycles through base maintenance without a positioning flight. These are standing aircraft rather than bases: no spares, no maintenance capability, no company staff on the field, and no tail dedicated to either point.
Four DHC-6 aircraft are required by block hours rather than by fleet policy. Each coastal route carries more daily block time than one aircraft can fly, so each route holds a pair.
Crew Complement
Every aircraft in the fleet is operated by two pilots. The DHC-6 Series 400 holds certification for single-pilot operation and the Airline does not use it. Scheduled passenger service under instrument flight rules, over water on the coastal routing and across the Western Caucasus in winter, is flown by two pilots on every type the Airline operates.
Cabin crew are carried on aircraft configured with more than 19 passenger seats, at one member for every 50 seats or part of 50. The DHC-6 is configured at 19 seats and carries none. Cabin service on that type is provided by the flight crew.
| Type | Seats | Flight crew | Cabin crew | Total complement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DHC-6 Series 400 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| E175 | 76 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| E195 | 112 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Pilots hold one of two type ratings, DHC-6 or the E-Jet pair, with differences training between the E175 and the E195. Cabin crew qualify on both E-Jet variants and form a single pool.
| Group | Establishment |
|---|---|
| DHC-6 pilots | 32 |
| E175 and E195 pilots | 53 |
| Cabin crew | 62 |
| Total | 147 |
Flight Time and Duty Limitations
The Airline establishes its own flight time, flight duty period and rest limitations and operates a fatigue risk management system against them, in accordance with Annex 6 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The scheme is submitted for approval to the civil aviation authority of Circassia and Abkhazia on that authority's establishment. It governs the Airline's planning in the meantime, and no schedule is published that the scheme does not permit.
A flight duty period begins at the reporting time and ends at the release time. Reporting is 60 minutes before scheduled departure and release 30 minutes after final arrival on the E175 and E195, and 45 and 15 minutes on the DHC-6. Positioning as a passenger is duty and is not a flight duty period.
Maximum Flight Duty Period
Hours and minutes, for an acclimatised crew of two pilots, by the local time at which the flight duty period begins and the number of sectors it contains. Every point in the network observes UTC+03:00 year round, so no start time in this table carries a time zone qualification.
| Start | 1-2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:00 - 04:59 | 11:00 | 10:30 | 10:00 | 9:30 | 9:00 | 9:00 | 9:00 |
| 05:00 - 05:59 | 12:00 | 11:30 | 11:00 | 10:30 | 10:00 | 9:30 | 9:00 |
| 06:00 - 13:29 | 13:00 | 12:30 | 12:00 | 11:30 | 11:00 | 10:30 | 9:00 |
| 13:30 - 16:59 | 12:00 | 11:30 | 11:00 | 10:30 | 10:00 | 9:30 | 9:00 |
| 17:00 - 21:59 | 11:00 | 10:30 | 10:00 | 9:30 | 9:00 | 9:00 | 9:00 |
| 22:00 - 03:59 | 11:00 | 10:30 | 10:00 | 9:30 | 9:00 | 9:00 | 9:00 |
Rest
Rest at base is at least as long as the preceding flight duty period and never less than 12 hours. Rest away from base is at least as long as the preceding flight duty period and never less than 10 hours, taken in accommodation providing a full sleep opportunity, with travel between the aircraft and the accommodation additional to it.
Cumulative Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Block hours in 7 consecutive days | 60 |
| Block hours in 28 consecutive days | 110 |
| Block hours in 12 consecutive months | 900 |
| Duty hours in 7 consecutive days | 60 |
| Duty hours in 28 consecutive days | 190 |
| Local days free of all duty, per calendar month | 7 |
Standby and Reserve
The crew establishment carries a reserve loading of 12 per cent. Reserve covers sickness, training absence, a duty limitation reached in the operating day, and the crew consequences of a disrupted rotation. It does not cover the absence of a serviceable aircraft, which is a fleet matter and not a crewing one.
Reserve crews are held at Sochi and at no other point. On every day of operation the Airline holds one flight crew and one cabin crew complement on airport standby at Sochi for the E-Jet fleet, and one flight crew on home standby for the DHC-6 fleet. Standby is rostered as a duty, and a standby period counts against the flight duty period limitations published above from the time the crew is called.
Where no reserve remains and a duty cannot be crewed within the limitations, the affected rotation is cancelled. No commercial consideration displaces this.
Crew Basing and Layover Points
Sochi is the Airline's only crew domicile. Every crew member is based there and no other point holds a domicile.
A crew layover point is an airport at which the Airline holds accommodation so that a crew takes its rest away from base between two duties. It carries a hotel contract and nothing else. No crew is domiciled there, no aircraft is dedicated to it, and it holds no spares, no maintenance capability and no company staff. A layover point is not a base and holding one does not change an airport's role in the network.
| Layover point | Crews per night | Requirement it serves |
|---|---|---|
| Sukhum | 2 | The first departure and the last arrival of the coastal operating day |
| Krasnodar | 2, and 4 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday | The coastal operating day, and the Russia trunk rotation originating there |
| Nalchik | 1, on Monday and Friday nights and on evening splits | The Tuesday and Saturday Istanbul rotation, and the late Nalchik return |
| Moscow Vnukovo | 1, every night | The Russia trunk, which no single crew can fly out and back |
Crew pairings are published in the Network Schedule, GOV-03A, under Crew Pairing Structure.
Ground Handling
Ground handling is contracted to established operators at each airport served. At Sukhum and Krasnodar the contract covers an aircraft standing overnight rather than a turnaround.