Russian Helicopters holding company (part of Rostec) and UTair Helicopter Services have concluded an agreement on supply of 50 Mi-8AMT helicopters. The document was signed during the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2021 by Andrey Boginsky, General Director of Russian Helicopters, and Andrey Martirosov, General Director of UTair. The deliveries will start in 2022.

“UTair is a major operator of Russian-made helicopters, and today’s agreement is aimed to systematically update and expand the company’s fleet. One of the terms of the agreement is to further improve the efficiency of aircraft operations and enable flights with two crewmen. This option is implemented on another helicopter, the modern Mi-171A2. UTair was the first operator of this model,” noted Andrey Boginsky.

Mi-8AMT helicopter can be used to transport up to 27 passengers, or 4 tons of goods inside the cargo bay or on an external sling. Thanks to a wide range of additional equipment available for Mi-8AMT, it can be modified into in cargo, passenger, firefighting, ambulance, search and rescue and emergency rescue variants.

“We are planning to use 50 helicopters in the latest modification to perform passenger and cargo transportation within the oil and gas projects of our customers, primarily in the Vostok Oil project of PJSC NK Rosneft. Most of our helicopter operations in difficult climatic conditions are flown with domestic models produced by Russian Helicopters. Together, we have managed to develop a unique helicopter model with the highest level of flight safety at the lowest price for heavy helicopters on the global market. UTair already operates over a hundred helicopters of the modern Mi-17 series. The upcoming batch of 50 helicopters is an important extension of our fleet management plan, as outlined in the company’s financial model. The updated fleet of helicopters will create many new jobs for pilots, engineers and ground service workers,” said Andrey Martirosov. 

The International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2021 is held between Jul. 20 – 25 in the Zhukovsky airport near Moscow. The event is organized by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rostec State Corporation. MAKS-2019 was organized by Aviasalon JSC. The cost of contracts and agreements signed during the days of the show exceeded 250 billion rubles, the business potential of the event is estimated at 400 billion rubles.

This press release was prepared and distributed by Rostec.