Ural Airlines

Is Ural Airlines safe?

Ural Airlines has never had a fatal accident, and in 2019 its crew saved all 233 people on board after a double bird strike. But it has also 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 two Airbus jets in field landings in four years, and the second one, in 2023, ended with an investigation that criticised the airline itself. Add the EU ban, a US export denial order and a fleet in which about one jet in five could not fly in 2025, and the result is a score of 55. That is a lower score built on dated findings, not a prediction about any flight.

Two field landings, two very different stories

Zhukovsky, 15 August 2019. Flight U6178, an A321 bound for Simferopol, flew into a flock of gulls just after lifting off. Birds went into both CFM56 engines, and together they gave less thrust than a single working engine would at the take-off setting. The gear was still down when the birds hit, so the jet could not climb away, and the crew put it down with the gear up in a cornfield about 5 km from the airport. 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, and ASN records ten passengers injured. The final report from MAK, the Interstate Aviation Committee, found that the situation went beyond what the type was certified for and did not blame the crew. It listed problems with bird control at Zhukovsky's Ramenskoye airfield, including landfills near the airport. We count it as a hull loss but weigh it lightly, because the airline did not cause it.

Near Novosibirsk, 12 September 2023. This one weighs more. Flight U6-1383, an A320 from Sochi to Omsk with 167 people on board, lost its green hydraulic system on final approach and went around. Rosaviatsia later found that a hose in the right main gear door control line had cracked, and that the gear had not retracted, although the crew did not notice. Instead of landing at Omsk, the captain diverted to Novosibirsk for its longer runway. With the gear hanging down the jet burned fuel much faster than planned, and the crew landed in a wheat field near the village of Kamenka with about 200 kg of fuel left. No one was hurt.

Rosaviatsia withdrew its first report in November 2023 and appointed a new commission. According to Izvestia, the repeat investigation found that management put commercial interests ahead of safety, that flight operations were poorly organised and pilot training weak, and that the crew miscalculated fuel. It recommended that the airline review whether its quality director and flight director were fit for their jobs, and in April 2024 Ural said it would scrap the aircraft for parts. Prosecutors charged the captain in 2025, who denies fault; an Omsk court sent the case back to them in November 2025, and in June 2026 Russia's Supreme Court took up the prosecutors' appeal.

Incidents before and since

AeroInside logged about 50 Ural events between 2012 and 2023, mostly technical: engine shutdowns, cabin pressure faults, gear that would not retract. A few were the kind our rubric counts as serious:

• Yekaterinburg, June 2017. An A320 from Moscow Domodedovo 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 50 metres in heavy rain. No one was hurt.
• Ulan-Ude, August 2018. An A320 diverting from Irkutsk with 170 people on board landed on a new runway that was still closed, while its lights were being tested.
• Ufa, December 2018. An A321 struck its tail on take-off and diverted to Yekaterinburg.
• Irkutsk, 2 November 2022. Flight U6-2942 from Dushanbe, an A320, touched down with pressure still in its brakes. All four main-gear tyres burst, the runway was damaged and the airport was closed for about 12 hours. A leaked internal memo said a pilot's handbag strap had set the parking brake at 40,000 feet and that the crew did not check the brake pressure before landing; Ural said the brake system had failed.
• Over Turkmenistan, December 2025. The captain of flight U6-783 from Dubai to Yekaterinburg shut down one engine after a fuel-reading discrepancy and landed at Ashgabat.

In May 2024 a ground worker at Yekaterinburg was seriously hurt when an A320 started to taxi after pushback and its nose gear ran over him. No cause has been published, so we describe it but do not count it. Since 2023, few Russian incident reports reach outside databases, so a quiet record here means missing data, not a clean one.

Sanctions and a shrinking fleet

Ural flies only Airbus A320-family jets. US rules have required a licence for aircraft parts going to Russia since February 2022, reviewed under a policy of denial. On 13 October 2022 the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) put Ural under a temporary denial order after it flew US-controlled aircraft into Russia from Bishkek, Dushanbe, Khujand and Tamchy. BIS renewed the order for the fifth time on 24 September 2026, citing flights from Sukhumi, Dushanbe, Khujand and Kulob.

The effect shows in the fleet. According to the airline's own reporting, cited by EAN in April 2026, only 39 of its 51 jets were used in 2025, flights on 11 were restricted because of difficulties maintaining foreign aircraft, and passenger numbers fell 11% to 8.46 million. Ural had earlier linked the drop to problems keeping its A320neo jets airworthy.

Oversight

The European Commission put Ural (AOC 18) 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 because Rosaviatsia had let Russian airlines fly foreign-owned aircraft without valid certificates of airworthiness, and it was still listed on 9 June 2026. ICAO's Significant Safety Concern on Russia, posted in June 2022, was still in dispute in 2025. Ural is an IATA member, which normally 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 safety audit, but it was not on IATA's IOSA registry when we searched it on 28 October 2026. We score oversight 20, level with Aeroflot and S7.

How to fly Ural with fewer surprises

• Leave slack in your plans. With a fifth of the fleet restricted in 2025, spare aircraft are scarce when one breaks down. EASA's bulletin on Russian airspace west of 60° East, which includes Yekaterinburg and Moscow, warns that air-defence activity against drones can close major airports, and it runs until January 2027.
• Plan for weather diversions in Siberia. The 2018 Ulan-Ude and 2023 Novosibirsk events both began with a diversion. On flights to Irkutsk, Omsk and other Siberian cities in bad weather, expect to end up at an alternate airport now and then.

How we scored it

The accident record (82) sits in our band for airlines with no fatal accident in 15 years, near its bottom because of two written-off jets, one of them with findings against the airline's crew, training and management. Oversight (20) reflects the EU ban, ICAO's open concern and the missing 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. Incidents (43) include the 2022 Irkutsk brake landing. The fleet (50) is a single modern family, but 11 of 51 jets were restricted in 2025. For the other big independent Russian airline, see Utair.