Nordavia appointed shareholder Sergey Savostin as its new CEO and Anatoliy Semeniuk as chairman, ahead of a planned rebranding to Smart Avia in 2019. Current chairman Eugene Klyucharev will continue to work on the company's board of directors.

Nordavia also plans to replenish its fleet in 2019 with five B737-800s and one more B737-700. Two B737-700s have already been acquired in 2018. The remaining eight B737-500s will be retired at a rate of two per year, and be replaced by newer aircraft.

The alliance with Red Wings will move forward as well, and once the unified management is complete, the combined carrier is expected to become a new powerful player in the air transport market in Russia.