VIM Airlines ceases operations

VIM Airlines (Russia) had it's AOC suspended, having recently ceased flight operations since October 16th. The airline has been technically bankrupt for some time, and has been parking or returning aircraft off lease in recent weeks, as well as having other aircraft seized by lessors. Nevertheless, a potential bailout has been proposed by Russian businessman Boris Karlov, and continues to be discussed. The airline was based at Moscow Domodedovo Airport providing international scheduled and charter services.

Ilyushin IL-62 VIM Airlines RA-86520

The airline was founded and commenced service in 2000 with a single IL-62

Boeing 757-230 MSN 25440 L/N 443 F/F 3/27/92
Condor D-ABNM 4/9/92 - 3/19/04
VIM Airlines RA-73012 8/1/04 - 11/29/16

The airline's profile changed significantly with the purchase of Condor's 757-200 fleet in 2004, with the aircraft (unusually) adopting Russian registrations. Western aircraft operated in Russia typically use Cayman Islands registration prefixes (VQ/VP) or Irish (EI) registrations.

Airbus A319-111 MSN 3364 F/F 1/9/08
Hamburg International D-AHIH 1/22/08 - 10/20/10
AirBlue AP-EDB 12/29/10 - 2/15/14
VIM Airlines VQ-BTL 4/6/14 - 10/24/17

The airline operated 757s only for the next ten years, until 2014, when it started adding a mix of different aircraft types. Four A319s were added in Spring 2014.

Boeing 767-31AER MSN 27619 L/N 595 F/F 9/26/95
Martinair Holland PH-MCV 11/6/95 - 11/19/02
African Safari Airways 5Y-QQQ 5/9/03 - 9/30/04
Holland Exel PH-MCV 10/13/04 - 5/1/05
Arkefly PH-MCV 5/1/05 - 10/30/07
Varig Airlines PR-VAE 1/22/08 - 7/31/08
Blue Panorama EI-EED 5/4/09 - 8/5/13
VIM Airlines VP-BFI 9/5/14 - 10/23/17

Also in 2014, the first wide body, a 767-300ER was inducted, one of two the airline would operate

Boeing 777-2H6ER MSN 28413 L/N 128 F/F 2/26/98
Malaysia Airlines 9M-MRF 3/18/98 - 8/31/15
VIM Airlines VP-BVA 4/27/16 - 10/28/17

The first of ten 777-200ERs arrived in 2016, the type becoming the airline's long haul flag ship.

Boeing 737-524 MSN 28915 L/N 2993 F/F 1/24/98
Continental Airlines N14654 2/11/98 - 9/21/08
Transaero EI-UNG 5/3/11 - 10/24/15
VIM Airlines VP-BVS 8/2/16 - 2/14/17 [Stored following accident damage]

Following the demise of fellow Russian airline Transaero, VIM added three of the former airline's 737-500s to it's short haul fleet in 2016.

Airbus A330-203 MSN 535 F/F 5/12/03
EVA Airways B-16302 7/4/03 - 5/5/15
VIM Airlines VP-BDV 12/23/16 - 9/22/17

Further fleet complexity was seen with the addition of two A330-200s in 2016 and 2017.

Boeing 777-31HER MSN 33501 L/N 516 F/F 5/3/05
Emirates A6-EBD 5/16/05 - 5/15/17
VIM Airlines VP-BIN 5/29/17 - 10/17

And finally...two ex-Emirates 777-300s were added to the fleet in May and July this year, the first being a -300ER and the second a standard -300 (both having different engines, GE and RR respectively!). Neither was liveried, and operated all-white during their brief VIM Airlines tenure.