State Unitary Enterprise "Aircompany "Polar Airlines" ГУП «Авиакомпания «Полярные авиалинии»
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
PI
RKA
AIR SAKHA
Founded
1997; 27 years ago (1997)
Operating bases
Yakutsk Airport[1]
Fleet size
56
Destinations
20
Parent company
Government owned
Headquarters
Yakutsk, Russia
Key people
Andrei Vasiliyevich Koryakin (General Director)[1]
Website
https://polar.aero/
Antonov An-26-100
Polar Airlines (Russian: Полярные авиалинии, Poljarnýe avialinii) is an airline based in Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia. It operates scheduled and charter passenger and cargo services.[2] In 2022, it became part of Russia's single far-eastern airline, along with four other airlines.[3][4]
History
The airline began operations in 1997. It was formed from the Batagai, Kolyma-Indigirka, Chukordakh and Tiksi sub-divisions of Aeroflot.[2]
Destinations
Polar Airlines operates scheduled flights to the following destinations (as of January 2013):[5]
Antonov An-3T RA-05881 force-landed 28 mi from Sangara due to engine failure caused by bad weather; all 13 on board survived, but the aircraft was written off.[6]
November 18, 2005
Antonov An-2TP RA-02252 crashed on a mountain 19 mi from Sangar in bad weather; all 12 on board survived, but the aircraft was written off.[7]
November 21, 2012
Flight 227 (performed by Antonov An-26 RA-26061) from Yakutsk to Deputatsky overshot the runway on landing by 70 metres. The airline reported an icy runway as the cause. The plane received substantial damage[8] but no injuries were reported.[9]
July 2, 2013
Flight 9949, a Mil Mi-8 (registration RA-22657) crashed into a hill top 66 km from Deputatsky in the Sakha Republic. 19 of the 25 passengers and 3 crew were killed; of these deaths, several children were involved. 11 of the 25 passengers were children. A post-crash fire consumed the aircraft.[10][11][12] This was the first fatal accident for the airline.
August 16, 2013
Flight 9977, an Antonov An-2TP (registration RA-01419), made a forced landing near Vilyuisk following an unexplained engine problem; all 11 on board survived, but the aircraft was destroyed by a post-crash fire.[13]
October 11, 2016
Flight 203, an Antonov An-26 RA-26660 landed short of the runway at Belaya Gora Airport. The aircraft was severely damaged. All 33 people on board survived.[14]
Fleet
As of July 2012 the Polar Airlines fleet includes:[1][15]
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2012-11-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"Accident: Polar AN26 at Deputatsky on Nov 21st 2012, overran runway". avherald.com. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
^"Children die in air crash in Russia's Sakha Republic". BBC News. 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
^"19 people die in Russian helicopter crash: official". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
^"Катастрофа Ми-8Т а/к Полярные авиалинии в Усть-Янском районе Якутии" [Accident Mi-8 Yakutia] (in Russian). airdisaster.ru. Retrieved 29 October 2013.