Red Wings

Is Red Wings safe?

Red Wings scores 52. Its record carries one fatal accident in our 20-year window: the 2012 Tu-204 crash at Moscow Vnukovo, in which five crew died and investigators criticised the airline itself. It has 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 aircraft since. Unlike Aeroflot and Smartavia, it is not 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, and the US has not placed it under a denial order. But it answers to the same Russian regulator, it has 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, and its Superjets and Boeing 777s have flown without factory support since 2022. That is a lower score built on dated findings, not a prediction about any flight.

The Vnukovo crash

On 29 December 2012, Red Wings flight 9268 flew a Tu-204 back to Moscow from Pardubice in the Czech Republic with eight crew and no passengers. It came in about 45 km/h faster than planned in a gusty crosswind of up to 29 knots, crossed the threshold high and touched down about 950 metres down the 3,060-metre runway on one main gear.

Because both main gear legs never compressed together, the spoilers and air brakes did not deploy, and the thrust reversers stayed locked. The crew pushed the levers to maximum reverse in one movement, against the flight manual, and a stiff, misadjusted reverser mechanism turned that into forward thrust. The jet sped up again, left the runway at about 215 km/h, crossed 320 metres of sloping ground and hit the M3 highway embankment at about 190 km/h. It broke into three pieces. The captain, co-pilot, flight engineer and two flight attendants died; three other crew members were badly hurt.

MAK, the Interstate Aviation Committee, listed eleven causes and contributing factors. Several point at the airline: "unsatisfactory management level and insufficient safety procedures inside the Red Wings airline", an instructor's careless proficiency check of the captain, and a failure to act on a near-identical Red Wings Tu-204 overrun at Novosibirsk nine days earlier. That is why we treat it as more than a crew error and score the accident record 70, inside the band our rubric sets for a fatal accident in the last 15 years.

From Tupolevs to Superjets

The company began in 1999 as Airlines 400 and took the Red Wings name in 2007. It flew Tu-204s for years, and AeroInside logs several Tu-204 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 and engine problems up to 2018. Today the company says its fleet is built around 20 Sukhoi Superjet 100s, which it calls the youngest Superjet fleet in Russia. It also flies at least three Boeing 777s on holiday routes, such as Moscow to Phuket and Ufa to Hambantota in Sri Lanka.

The switch was not smooth at first. In June 2016 Rosaviatsia restricted Red Wings' commercial use of the Superjet after an inspection found breaches of aviation rules; the airline chose the restriction itself as its corrective measure. That falls just outside our 10-year incident window, so we describe it but do not count it.

Engines without a manufacturer

Both of Red Wings' main types have the same problem. The Superjet's SaM146 engine came from a French-Russian joint venture whose French side stopped support in 2022, and in September 2026 Aeroflot's chief executive said Superjet fleets at every airline will shrink unless the state helps pay for Russian PD-8 engines. The 777s are US-built, and their parts have needed a US licence, reviewed under a policy of denial, since February 2022. We take 25 points off what a young regional-jet fleet would normally earn, and score the fleet 48.

Recent incidents

• Belgorod, 10 January 2022. A Superjet from Domodedovo landed in freezing rain and fog and overran the runwayRunway 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 by about 110 metres onto soft ground. No one was hurt.
• Zhukovsky, 6 June 2024. After a 777 from Sharm el-Sheikh taxied to its stand, technicians found a fire at the brake of one wheel on the left main gear and put it out with a hand extinguisher. No one was hurt.
• Domodedovo, 3 December 2025. A 777 bound for Phuket returned soon after take-off when one engine's readings changed. Rosaviatsia classed it as an incident and the Moscow transport prosecutor opened a check. Red Wings denied reports that the aircraft had been on fire.
• Yekaterinburg, 18 June 2026. The cowlings of a Superjet's right engine came off just after take-off, and the crew returned to Yekaterinburg after burning off fuel. It was the fourth such Superjet event in Russia; in the three earlier ones, at Rossiya and Azimut, Rosaviatsia found that cowling latches had been left open after maintenance. No finding has been published for this one.
• Yekaterinburg, 20 September 2026. Fire broke out in the avionics bay of a parked Superjet while a technician was refilling the crew oxygen bottle before a flight to Magnitogorsk. No passengers were on board; the technician was burned and taken to hospital. Rosaviatsia classed it as an emergency and opened an investigation, and the transport prosecutor and investigators opened checks.

As with other Russian airlines, far fewer Red Wings reports reach outside databases after 2021, so a thin record is missing data, not a clean one.

Who should think twice

• Travellers on the long holiday flights. The 777s fly long sectors to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and the airline has few of them. A technical fault can mean a delay of a day or more, as on the December 2025 Phuket flight, when 283 passengers waited in hotels.
• Anyone with tight connections in western Russia. EASA's bulletin for Russian airspace west of 60° East, valid until January 2027, warns that air-defence activity against drones can close major airports at short notice.

How we scored it

The accident record (70) carries the 2012 Vnukovo crash, with findings against the airline's management, and no hull lossHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary since. Oversight (25) reflects Rosaviatsia's open ICAO concern and the lack of 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; staying off the EU list does not lift it, because the regulator is the same. The fleet (48) reflects engines without Western support, and incidents (47) a lost cowling, a brake fire and the 2026 oxygen fire on a thin record after 2021. For the other big Superjet operator, see Rossiya.