UVT Aero

Is UVT Aero safe?

UVT Aero has had no accident in the 11 years it has flown, and nothing we found suggests a pattern of serious trouble. Its weaker points are around that record: two 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 with its CRJ200 jets, one of them caused by the crew, a place 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, 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 a fleet of older Canadian jets that has had no factory support since 2022. We score it 55. The record is also short and thin, so our confidence is low.

A short record with no accidents

UVT Aero got its operating certificate on 8 July 2015 and flew its first scheduled service, from Bugulma to Moscow, on 17 July. By its third birthday in 2018 it had flown 17,629 flights and carried 589,000 passengers, according to the Tatarstan paper Business Online. We found no accident or 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 in the Aviation Safety Network data, in MAK's investigations or in AeroInside's log for the whole period since.

That puts it in a similar place to Azimuth, another young Russian regional airline with no fatal accident. Our rubric keeps the top band for airlines with no fatal accident over 20 years and high volume, so a small airline with 11 years scores well, but not at the top.

Two runway excursions

Chelyabinsk, 1 December 2021. Flight RT567 from Kazan landed at about 2:30 in the morning in freezing rain and slid off the right side of the runway, stopping about 25 metres from it. No one among the 33 passengers and 3 crew was hurt and the jet was not damaged. Rosaviatsia's report put most of the blame on the airport: the de-icing of the runway had been stopped 22 minutes before the landing with 800 metres left untreated, the friction meter was broken, and the crew was given a braking figure of 0.35, right at its limit, when the real value was 0.27. Under our rules that weighs lightly against the airline.

Yekaterinburg, 29 June 2024. Flight UVT453 from Kazan via Tobolsk landed on a wet runway with a crosswind gusting to 14 m/s and ran about 10 metres off the right side. None of the 46 passengers and 3 crew was hurt. Rosaviatsia's commission found that the pilots were late to correct the swing, used reverse thrust poorly and probably braked unevenly. The captain was a first officer in training for command, flying from the left seat under supervision, and the commission named his limited experience as the cause.

The second event counts more, because it points at training and supervision inside the airline. One event does not make a pattern, but it is the kind of thing we look for.

An older single-type fleet

UVT Aero flies one type on its scheduled network, the 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200. It started with three, doubled to six by November 2015 and had seven in 2018; it publishes no current count. The CRJ200 is an older regional jet design, and Canadian and US export bans have cut off factory parts and support for Russian operators since 2022. The jet in the 2021 incident was registered in Bermuda (VQ-BOQ); the one in 2024 carried a Russian registration, RA-67156. A single type keeps training and maintenance simple, which helps, but there is no newer aircraft in the fleet to fall back on.

Oversight

The European Commission lists UVT Aero (AOC 567) 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 of 9 June 2026, together with 21 other Russian airlines. The Commission began listing Russian airlines in 2022 because Rosaviatsia let them fly foreign-owned aircraft without valid certificates of airworthiness. It is not an IATA member, so 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 ICAO has had a Significant Safety Concern on Russia since June 2022. We score oversight 20, as for Pobeda, which is also listed and has no IOSA.

Before you fly UVT Aero

• Expect closures at short notice. Kazan and most of UVT Aero's network lie inside the area of EASA's bulletin on Russian airspace, valid to January 2027, which warns of drone attacks and airports closed with little warning. Leave a long gap before any connection.
• Mind the cabin size. The CRJ200 is a small jet with a narrow cabin and little overhead space, so large carry-on bags often go in the hold at the door. Keep medicines and documents with you.
• Winter landings are where the risk sits. Both of UVT Aero's excursions happened on slippery runways. A diversion or a long hold for runway clearing in winter is a safe choice, not a failure.

How we scored it

The accident record (84) is clean over 11 years, but short. Oversight (20) reflects the EU listing 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. The fleet (35) is a single older Western type with no factory support, and the incident record (50) includes an excursion caused by the crew in 2024. For a larger Russian airline with a longer record, see Utair.