NordStar

Is NordStar safe?

NordStar has had no fatal accident and has not 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 an aircraft in the last 20 years. That clean record carries most of its score of 55. The rest is weaker. The airline has been on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary since 2022, its nine Boeing 737s have had no factory parts or support since Western sanctions, and its home base at Norilsk is one of the harshest airports in Russia with scheduled jet flights.

Our confidence is low. Like other Russian airlines, NordStar has published almost no safety data since 2022, and few Russian incidents have reached outside databases since 2021.

A small airline built around Norilsk

NordStar is the brand of the former Taimyr Airlines, created in 2008 to link Norilsk with Moscow and Krasnoyarsk. Under an agreement signed in March 2021 it is the base carrier at Norilsk airport. In the 2026–27 winter timetable it flies daily from Norilsk to Moscow Domodedovo and Krasnoyarsk, and less often to Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and other cities. From Domodedovo it also serves Kurgan, Samara, Ufa and Mineralnye Vody. On 7 October 2026 it carried its millionth passenger of the year.

That makes NordStar a small airline. A clean 20-year record means less at about a million passengers a year than at an airline that carries tens of millions, so we score its accident record at 84, the same as Azimuth, rather than in the top band.

The incidents we found

The AeroInside log, which draws on Rosaviatsia reports, holds a long list of technical events: flap failures, cracked windscreens, a cracked landing gear leg found after a Moscow landing in 2016. Three events in the last ten years matter more:

• Norilsk, May 2019. A 737-800 from Krasnoyarsk landed in snow showers and blowing snow, with visibility around 1 to 2 km, and ran past the end of runway 19 onto the paved safety area. No one was hurt and the aircraft flew back to Krasnoyarsk the same day.
• Turukhansk, March 2019. An ATR 42 with 20 passengers veered left off the runway on landing and stopped in deep snow. No one was hurt.
• Saint Petersburg, December 2020. A 737-800 from Moscow was about 2,100 feet above the runway only 2.35 nautical miles out, roughly three times too high, when the crew went around. Rosaviatsia said the crew had problems with the flight management system and asked to re-enter the approach. The second approach was normal.

The log stops in 2021. Russian news reports fill part of the gap since then:

• Norilsk, 9 January 2024. A 737-800 from Krasnoyarsk with 196 passengers and eight crew overran the end of the runway after landing in extreme cold and stopped about 30 metres beyond it. No one was hurt, the aircraft was towed back, and the West Siberian transport prosecutor opened an inquiry.
• Krasnoyarsk to Norilsk, February 2025. About 90 minutes into the flight a 737-800 with 156 passengers got a cabin altitude and depressurisation warning. The crew descended and flew on to Norilsk, where it landed normally; prosecutors said the pilots had also noticed faults in the wing flaps or slats.
• Sochi, June 2025. A Utair 737 taxiing out for Tyumen struck the tail of a NordStar 737 that had just arrived from Norilsk; the Utair wingtip lodged in the NordStar jet's elevator. According to the transport prosecutor, the NordStar aircraft had stopped short of its parking mark and the crew had not told the controller. No one was hurt, and both aircraft were taken out of service.

We count the Sochi collision as an incident with a share of the cause on NordStar's side. We still read the record since 2021 as incomplete.

Oversight and the fleet

The European Commission put NordStar (AOC 452) on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary in April 2022, together with 20 other Russian airlines, because Rosaviatsia let them keep flying leased foreign aircraft without valid certificates of airworthiness. It was still listed on 9 June 2026. ICAO has had a Significant Safety Concern on Russia since June 2022 over the same "dual registration" of aircraft. NordStar is on IATA's member list, which requires an IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit, but Russia stopped renewing IOSA audits in 2022 and we could not confirm any audit since. Under our yardstick for Russian airlines, an EU listing without confirmed IOSA scores 20, the same as Yakutia Airlines.

In October 2026 NordStar's website listed eight Boeing 737-800s and one 737-300. The ATR 42 turboprops it once used on local routes in the Krasnoyarsk region have gone, and the airline says its winter flights all use the 737-800. Boeing has supplied no parts, manuals or engineering support to Russian airlines since 2022. With only nine aircraft, the airline has little slack when one needs a part that has to come through third countries. We take the usual 25 points off the fleet score for the cut-off.

Flying to Norilsk in winter

Alykel airport sits at about 69° North. From late November to mid-January the sun does not rise, winter temperatures fall below -40°C, and blizzards close the airport for hours or days. Blowing snow is not only a winter problem: the 2019 overrun happened in May. Most of NordStar's other destinations are well-equipped Russian airports, but its flights to Moscow, Saint Petersburg and the south enter the area west of 60° East where EASA bulletin 2025-01 warns of drone attacks and GNSS jamming.

Before you book

• Check your entry papers first. Norilsk is closed to foreign citizens without approval from the local FSB office, requested by a host organisation in the city. NordStar's site points to the rule. Without it you can be turned back on arrival.
• Plan for weather days. Winter flights to Norilsk are often delayed or cancelled for blizzards. Do not book a tight onward connection in Moscow or Krasnoyarsk.
• Expect the 737-800. The single 737-300 is a much older design, but NordStar says its scheduled flights in the 2026–27 winter season use the 737-800.

How we scored it

The accident record (84) is the strongest factor: no deaths and no hull lossesHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in 20 years. Oversight (20) reflects the EU ban, ICAO's open concern and no IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit confirmed since 2022. The fleet (44) is small and cut off from Boeing support, incidents (45) include runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary in 2019 and 2024 and a ground collision at Sochi in 2025, and the Arctic base keeps the environment at 42. For another Siberian airline with a Boeing fleet, see S7 Airlines.