Azur Air will be forced to cease flying as of March 21st if it has not resolved all of its flight safety violations. In response, the airline intends to increase its transportation business with the commissioning of a new fleet. This was announced by the airline’s general director, Mikhail Kritsky, speaking at the NAIS-2018 aviation exhibition.

"We introduced five new aircraft (four Boeing-737s and one Boeing-757) last year. This year our plans are for not a decrease but an increase in operations”, he said.

The Azur Air press office stated that by spring-summer 2018 the company will have commissioned another two new aircraft, a Boeing-737 and a Boeing-767. Also in this year’s plan is the replacement of its fleet of Boeing-777 aircraft.

Rosaviatsiya restricted the airline’s operator certificate until March 20th 2018 because it had not resolved all of its flight safety violations by the end of 2017.

According to Rosaviation, Azur Air is the eighth largest airline in Russia. In 2017, the company carried 3.7 million passengers.