Polar Airlines

State Unitary Enterprise "Aircompany "Polar Airlines"
ГУП «Авиакомпания «Полярные авиалинии»
Founded	1997; 27 years ago
Operating bases	Yakutsk Airport
Fleet size	56
Destinations	20
Parent company	Government owned
Headquarters	Yakutsk, Russia
Key people	Andrei Vasiliyevich Koryakin (GeneralDirector)
Website	https://polar.aero/

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]

Polar Airlines operates scheduled flights to the following destinations (as of January 2013):^[5]

May 16, 2003: 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]

As of July 2012 the Polar Airlines fleet includes:^[1]^[15]