Yakutia Airlines

Is Yakutia Airlines safe?

Yakutia Airlines has had no fatal accident in the last 20 years. In that time 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 one aircraft, a Sukhoi Superjet 100 that slid off an icy runway at its Yakutsk base in 2018, and the investigation put most of the blame on the airport. Its score of 53 comes mostly from everything around that record. The airline is 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, 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 we could confirm, its fleet of about a dozen aircraft has lost factory support, and it flies one of the harshest networks of any airline we cover.

Our confidence is low. Yakutia publishes little, and almost no Russian incident data has reached outside databases since 2021.

The Yakutsk Superjet overrun

On the night of 10 October 2018, flight 414 from Ulan-Ude came in to land at Yakutsk. Part of runway 23L was closed for rebuilding, leaving 2,248 metres, and the touchdown zone and centreline lights were out of service. The crew was given a friction coefficient of 0.45 and a light tailwind. One of the jet's thrust reversers had been switched off under the minimum equipment list, which is allowed only when the runway friction is at least 0.4.

The runway was in fact icy. Measurements after the accident gave 0.25 to 0.32. The Superjet could not stop in the distance left, ran 250 metres into the closed section and hit a 40 cm step where the old and new surfaces met. Both main gear legs broke off and fuel leaked, but there was no fire, and all 92 people got off. 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.

Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) found that the crew had been passed the wrong friction value. It listed failures by Yakutsk Airport, which had no chemicals or heat machines to clear the ice and no ramp between the old and new runway sections, by air traffic control, and by the aviation authorities overseeing the airport. Another Superjet crew had reported poor braking earlier and was not acted on. Under our rules an accident caused mainly by an airport or air traffic control counts, but weighs lightly.

The only other accident in the window is minor. In February 2010 an An-24 leaving Yakutsk for Olyokminsk settled back onto the runway on its belly when the flight engineer raised the gear too early. No one was hurt and the aircraft was repaired.

Incidents that point at the airline

Several events in the AeroInside log are of the kind our rubric counts:

• Neryungri, December 2018. A Boeing 737-800 bound for Krasnoyarsk struck its tail on the take-off run, and the crew stopped at about 60 knots. The East Siberian transport prosecutor found that the passengers were not seated the way the crew's load sheet assumed, so the centre of gravity was outside limits. The captain was fined, charges were brought against the airline, and six officials, including managers, were disciplined.
• Vladivostok, July 2020. A Superjet from Yakutsk struck its tail on landing in good weather.
• Moscow Vnukovo, December 2020. A 737-700 from Neryungri landed in snow and ran about 20 metres past the end of the runway onto the paved safety area. No one was hurt.

The log also holds many technical events: engine shutdowns on Dash 8s and An-24s, a cargo door that opened in flight on a 757 freighter, cracked windscreens. It ends in October 2021. We read that as missing data, not a clean record. Russian press since then shows mainly technical events: on 23 January 2026 a 737-800 flying from Novosibirsk to Yakutsk landed at Krasnoyarsk at about 2 am after a technical fault, and passengers said the oxygen masks had dropped and they smelled burning. The landing was normal and no one was hurt.

A small fleet with little slack

Rosaviatsia data quoted by Interfax in November 2022 put Yakutia's fleet at 12 aircraft: four Superjet 100s, four Boeing 737s and four de Havilland Dash 8 turboprops. Two of the Superjets were not airworthy and had been stripped for parts, and the lessor, GTLK, wanted them back over a debt of 1.6 billion roubles. The Superjet trouble started early: in 2018 the airline said engine failures with design causes had grounded jets for months, and it brought in 737-700s as backups.

Since 2022 Western parts and support for the Boeings and Dash 8s have been cut off, like those for every Russian airline's Western fleet. The effect showed in September 2026, when the airline stopped selling tickets on flights inside the republic until 24 October because its only Dash 8-300 on those routes needed a part for its right main gear. The Russian Il-114-300 meant to replace such aircraft can so far fly only from paved runways in temperatures from -9 to +25°C, and the local government is looking at Chinese turboprops in the meantime.

Oversight

The European Commission put Yakutia (AOC 464) 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, with 20 other Russian airlines, because Rosaviatsia let airlines fly foreign-owned aircraft without valid certificates of airworthiness. It was still listed on 9 June 2026. ICAO posted a Significant Safety Concern against Russia on 15 June 2022 over the "dual registration" of aircraft, and Russia was still contesting it in 2025. Yakutia is not on IATA's member list, and we could confirm 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 for it (nor, since 2022, for the IATA members Rossiya and Aeroflot). We score oversight 20, the same as Pobeda, which is also listed and has no IOSA.

Before you fly Yakutia

• Build in a spare day. With so few aircraft, one technical fault can cancel a route for weeks, as the Dash 8 grounding showed. Do not book a tight connection in Yakutsk.
• Expect deep-winter operations. From November to March, Yakutsk and the northern airports see some of the coldest temperatures of any airport with scheduled flights. De-icing and cold-soaked aircraft take time, and a delay for de-icing is the system working.
• Check who flies the local leg. Many flights to small settlements are run by Polar Airlines, a separate airline with older Antonov turboprops.

How we scored it

The accident record (82) has no deaths in 20 years and one 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 caused mainly by the airport, which weighs lightly. 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. The fleet (33) is small, partly grounded and cut off from Western parts, and the incident record (45) includes a tail strikeTail strikeWhen the tail of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose was raised too far or too early.More in the glossary that led to fines and disciplinary action. For another Russian airline with a long Arctic network, see Utair.