Azur Air

Is Azur Air safe?

Azur Air scores 52, and the main reason is recent. In March 2026 Russia's own regulator limited its operating certificate after a winter of engine failures and diversions, and when the limit was lifted in June, only six of the airline's 23 Boeing jets were left in the schedule. Azur flies long holiday charters on Boeing 757s and 767s that have had no manufacturer support since 2022, and industry sources told Kommersant that their engines will run out of life by 2028. Its last fatal crash was in 2010, more than 15 years ago, when it still flew regional turboprops as Katekavia.

The 2026 certificate restriction

The trouble came in a few weeks. According to Vedomosti, a Boeing 757 flying from Phuket to Barnaul diverted to China after an engine failure on 23 January 2026. Five days later the same aircraft, flying from Nha Trang to Irkutsk, diverted to Hanoi with an oil leak. In early February a 767 returned to Phuket because its landing gear would not retract, and on 27 February a 767 from Phu Quoc to Kazan had an engine surge with bangs and flashes of flame.

An unscheduled check by Rostransnadzor, the transport inspectorate, found breaches in maintenance, and on 12 March Rosaviatsia limited Azur's certificate until 8 June. On 1 April the head of Rosaviatsia, Dmitry Yadrov, sent Azur's action plan back. "The reason was the carrier's formal approach to airworthiness issues, which is unacceptable," he said. Azur's technical director left. In early June Yadrov said the limit would be lifted after an inspection: three aircraft were grounded because their engine readings were out of limits, and six were cleared to fly. CAPA reported on 3 June that the restrictions had been lifted.

We count this in the incidents factor, as an enforcement action by the airline's own regulator, rather than in oversight, which rates the regulator itself. It is the kind of finding that puts an airline below 60 on our rubric.

An ageing widebody fleet

Azur's niche is moving large numbers of package tourists, often 330 or more per flight on all-economy 767s, from Russian cities to Antalya, Hurghada, Phuket and Goa. That model depends on old widebodies. According to Kommersant, Azur had 23 aircraft after 2022. Only four belonged to the airline, eight to an affiliated Irish leasing company and the rest to other foreign lessors. At the end of 2025 only 12 were flying, Vedomosti reported, and by June 2026 the schedule used six.

Since February 2022, US rules have required a licence for aircraft parts going to Russia, reviewed under a policy of denial. Russian airlines now maintain the Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney engines on these jets themselves. The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has kept a temporary denial order on Azur since 7 April 2022 for flying US-origin aircraft into Russia, and renewed it again in September 2026. With old types, a full parts cut-off and documented groundings, we score the fleet 35.

The record before 2026

Azur Air was the Krasnoyarsk regional airline Katekavia until it was renamed in 2014 and turned into a charter airline. On 3 August 2010 a Katekavia An-24 on a night flight from Krasnoyarsk to Igarka continued its approach in fog below the 100-metre minimum without seeing the runway, hit trees 477 metres short and burned. Eleven passengers and one crew member died. The investigators also faulted the weather forecast. A year later, on 25 July 2011, another Katekavia An-24 came in fast and high at Chita, touched down nose gear first at about 300 km/h and bounced five times; the crew had not gone around, and the aircraft was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. No one died. Under our rules the operating certificate decides the page. Azur Air began in December 2014 as a charter operation under Katekavia's certificate, and the company was then renamed, so both events count on Azur's record, although they say little about today's widebody operation. Both are now more than 15 years old, so the accident record sits at the floor of our band for airlines with no fatal accident in that time.

Since the change of business, no Azur aircraft has been written off. Damage events include a 767 that struck its tail landing at Vnukovo in windshear in September 2020 and a 767 found with a torn dent in its stabiliser after a flight from Fergana in May 2021. At Barnaul in September 2019 a 767 landed hard, its gear caught fire and 341 people left by the slides; one passenger was seriously hurt and 48 slightly.

Two earlier incidents point at crew handling. At Goa in February 2017 a 757 climbed with the wrong autopilot mode until the stick shaker warned of a stall. At Antalya in June 2018 a 757 made three missed approaches in bad weather, slowed close to stall speed and banked to 40 degrees before diverting to Dalaman. On 4 February 2023 a 767-300 leaving Phuket for Moscow with 321 people on board rejected its take-off at about 190 km/h when the right engine surged, throwing sparks and smoke, and taxied back to the stand; no injuries were reported.

Should you book Azur Air?

• Plan for long delays. With only six aircraft in the schedule, Azur has almost no spares, so one fault can hold a flight for many hours. Long flights such as Phu Quoc to Kazan also stop for fuel when headwinds are strong, as one did in Novosibirsk in March 2026.
• Check who flies your package. Tour operators sometimes switch airlines at short notice. Your voucher should name the operating airline; ask the tour operator if it does not.
• Know where a diversion could leave you. The 2026 diversions ended in China and Vietnam, far from the destination.

How we scored it

The incidents (35) and fleet (35) factors weigh most here: a regulator's restriction for maintenance, and a fleet of old widebodies of which only six were in the schedule. The accident record (80) sits at the floor of our band for airlines with no fatal accident in 15 years: the 2010 Katekavia crash and a 2011 write-offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary fall just outside that, and three damage events followed from 2019. Oversight (25) matches the other Russian airlines. For Russian airlines with higher scores, see Rossiya or Smartavia.