AVIAROSS AIR COMPANY (AVIAROSS AVIACOMPANII): P. O. Box 10, Moscow, 115582, Russia; Phone 7 (095) 459-0414; Fax 7 (095) 392-1994; Code DW; Year Founded 1993. Aviaross is founded at Moscow in 1993 to provide domestic passenger and cargo charter services. General Director Boris S. Baldin begins revenue flights with a pair of Antonov An-12s.
Two An-32s are ordered in 1994. These arrive and enter service in 1995. It is understood that flights continue without change during the remainder of the decade; exact information is, however, unavailable.
AVIASTAR: Prospect Antonuva 1, Ulanovsk, Russia; Phone 7 (8422) 202 575; Fax 7 (8422) 209 561; Code FUE; Year Founded 1992. Formed at Ulyanovsk in 1992 as the transport division of a local production company, Avistar is one of many small carriers formed upon the breakup of the Soviet Union. V. V. Mikhailov is named general director and he acquires a fleet that includes 3 Antonov An-26s, 1 An-8,
1 An-12, 2 Yakovlev Yak-40s, 4 Ilyushin Il-76s, 1 An-124 Ruslan, and
2 Mil Mi-8 helicopters. Scheduled and nonscheduled passenger and cargo services are undertaken throughout Russia, the CIS, and to several neighboring countries.
The company is best remembered as the first to crash a giant Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan cargo freighter. Having leased one from the Ulyanovsk Aircraft Production Factory, the plane has only 17 hours flying time when it is crashed in Iran on November 15, 1993.
Flights continue in 1994-1995, during which years the Il-76s are withdrawn. In July 1996, the carrier proposes an upgrade for the Ruslan. The An-124-130 will be equipped with 4 General Electric GE CF6-80 engines and be flown by an 8-person crew (4 flight crew and 4 engineers or loadmasters).
There is no indication that such an aircraft is flown in 1997-1999. DG Mikhailov’s fleet in the latter year includes 2 each An-12s, Mi-8s, and Yak-40s, 3 An-26s, and 1 Il-76T.
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