Russian carrier Red Wings has placed its restored Tupolev Tu-214 into service on international flights.

On February 7 RA-64518 (c/n 44709018) departed Moscow/Domodedovo for the just under three-hour flight to the Armenian capital, Yerevan. The 14-year-old aircraft, a former Transaero example, was restored after being stored in Kazan for around seven years. The Tu-214 had previously been retired from regular passenger service and used only by Russian government delegations.

Red Wings is also planning to add an additional Tu-204 to its fleet later this year. The airline currently operates two examples: RA-64014 (c/n 1450744364014) and RA-64039 (c/n 1450741564039). The third, RA-64050 (c/n 1450741964050), is undergoing modernisation to return to service. It previously flew for the airline between 2008 and 2018.

Discussing returning the Russian airliners to service, deputy general for fleet management Ekaterina Rukhlova said: “We have good experience working with aircraft of the Tu-204/214 family and we will fully assist the UAC with the production of new such aircraft. We have no alternative but to create our own modern and reliable aircraft.

"Red Wings in this sense is an assistant or reference operator of Russian aircraft. We carefully record all comments, breakdowns, suggestions from our technicians, pilots and flight attendants, and much more. We transfer all this to the UAC so that each subsequent aircraft is better.”