Izhavia takes delivery of 1st B737-800

On 19 February, Izhavia took delivery of its first B737-800. The aircraft, registered VP-BUU (39069) ferried from Woensdrecht to Moscow-Domodedovo. Its the first in-house Western-built aircraft for the airline, which did have some experience with the type as it used to wet-lease a B737-800 from Smartavia. The airline also decided to make use of this occassion by introducing a new livery.

VP-BUU was originally delivered on 21 October 2014 as VT-JFZ to Jet Airways. When Jet Airways collapsed in March 2019, it was registered as 2-BTTA by lessor BBAM before moving on to fly with Vistara Airlines on 13 June 2019 as VT-TGC. It was phased-out in January 2020 and once again registered as 2-BTTA. The lessor ferried the aircraft to Woensdrecht on 13 February 2020 where it has awaiting a new customer.

Izhavia was founded in 1992 and is based at Izhevsk. Next to this B737-800, its fleet consists of three An-24RVs and eight Yak-42Ds. It mainly serves domestic destinations, but also flies to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

Photo by Werner Verbogt via our Aviation Photo forum.