Disruptions without rules: Angara Airlines may stop flights
Angara may stop flights — the results of the Rostransnadzor inspection after the An-24 disaster in July will be the basis, Izvestia learned. Half of the airline's fleet is operated in violation of the requirements, flights are performed without maintenance, and serious deficiencies have been found in crew training — this is enough to revoke the aircraft operator's certificate, the agency said in a letter to the Federal Air Transport Agency. At the same time, the carrier continues to operate flights, the final decision on its activities has not yet been made.
What happened to the Angara
After the An-24 plane crash that occurred on July 24 near the Tynda airfield, Rostransnadzor conducted inspections of Angara Airlines and found massive violations, which could lead to the termination of its flights. As follows from the letter from the head of the department, Viktor Gulin, to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the claims relate to both flight operations and maintenance, as well as crew training. Izvestia has reviewed the document.
The crash site of the AN-24RV RA-47315 aircraft operated by Angara Airlines
During the control measures, "numerous facts of performing flights on aircraft without maintenance and untimely replacement of components with a limited resource were revealed," the letter says. Rostransnadzor notes that the airworthiness directives were not implemented, and some of the maintenance work was carried out in violation of technology or fictitiously. In addition, the facts of aircraft flights with malfunctions have been established, the document says.
"More than half of the fleet is operated with deviations from the mandatory requirements for maintaining airworthiness. Despite gross violations of safety requirements and a temporary flight ban on 18 aircraft (out of 28 operated by the airline), Angara Airlines did not draw the necessary conclusions," Viktor Gulin said in a letter addressed to Dmitry Yadrov, head of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation).
Back in July, the Federal Air Transport Agency cancelled Angara's aircraft maintenance certificate.
However, performing commercial transportation on an aircraft that has not undergone maintenance also entails legal consequences for revoking the operator's certificate, the letter says.
Rostransnadzor also checked the level of crew training for flights. It turned out that the access of the An-26 aircraft crews to flights was sometimes carried out without checking the actions in emergency situations on a flight simulator, and in particular there was no flight training during wind shear.
Since 2019, two accidents have occurred with the An-24 Angara due to crew errors. On July 6, 2023, another plane miraculously made a rough landing at Noglik airfield. It turned out that the pressure on the altimeters was set incorrectly by the crew, Rostransnadzor notes. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, errors in calculating the flight altitude, according to the preliminary version, could have caused the An-24 disaster in Tynda on July 24, 2025. Six crew members and 42 passengers on board were killed. In this regard, Rostransnadzor organized an inspection. Rosaviation specialists from among the senior staff took part in it.
"Consequently, the analysis of possible risks in the airline has not been carried out, corrective measures have not been taken," Rostransnadzor said.
As the press service of the Federal Air Transport Agency told Izvestia, the certificate of the aviation training center (AUT) from Angara Airlines has already been canceled. It happened on August 20th. However, the decision to revoke the operator's certificate has not yet been taken.
— The analysis of the carrier's work continues. Angara operates flights. The airline's management has been given recommendations on improving flight safety," the Federal Air Transport Agency noted. — Air transportation in the regions is a constant focus of attention of the Russian Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency.
Izvestia sent requests to Rostransnadzor, the Ministry of Transport and Angara Airlines.
Who can replace Angara
Federal aviation regulations suggest either limiting the operator's certificate, or suspending or canceling it, Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviport agency, told Izvestia. The suspension is imposed for up to 90 days, after which the certificate is renewed. Cancellation is an irreversible process, and the airline cannot restore its effect, he added.
"Without an operator's certificate, Angara will not be able to operate flights," added Andrey Patrakov, founder of the RunAvia flight safety service.
And this will make transportation in the East of the country more difficult, the expert believes.
According to Oleg Panteleev, in order to replace Angara on local and interregional lines, it is necessary to have a fleet of AN-24/AN-26 aircraft, since a number of airports in Eastern Siberia do not accept modern jetliners or foreign turboprop aircraft.
"No airline has the opportunity to come to the region with its own planes and do all the work without expanding the fleet," he said. — You will first need to buy the An-24 from Angara and employ its staff.
IrAero Airlines operates in the Irkutsk region, but it does not have a suitable number of aircraft for local transportation. The AN-24 is operated by the airlines A247, Kamchatka Aviation, and KrasAvia.
Meanwhile, the issue of revoking the AUC certificate has been resolved and also creates a number of difficulties.
"There are no training centers left in the Irkutsk region that specialize in training specialists for the AN-24," Oleg Panteleev continued. — In addition to Angara, a similar certificate was already revoked in April from another major airline, IrAero.
It is not easy to quickly establish the process of training specialists and crews for the AN-24/26. According to Andrey Patrakov, for training, you need not just an AUC with a valid Rosaviation certificate, but a center with an approved training program for these aircraft and with appropriate simulators.
— The An-24 maintenance situation is also difficult. For example, there is no certified production and repair of spare parts for them in the Russian Federation," he noted. — Spare parts come from "somewhere" without proper documents.
Violations can be found at any operator of these aircraft, not only at Angara. To meet all the requirements for the operation of the AN-24, it is high time to do their deep modernization with the creation of spare parts production facilities (as in other countries), the expert added.
According to Andrey Patrakov, light small aircraft capable of landing on unpaved airfields can partially take over the functions of the AN-24 in the regions.
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