Russia’s Azur Air adds VIP B757

Azur Air (ZF, Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo) has taken delivery of its tenth B757-200, VQ-BZE (msn 26330), which will be operated in a VIP configuration on behalf of luxury travel specialist LOTI. The 24.9-year-old Boeing narrowbody owned by AerCap was deregistered in the United States on April 6, 2021, and subsequently ferried from Marana via Portsmouth and Shannon to Moscow Vnukovo over the course of April 11-14, 2021. It is due to be re-registered as RA-73029. The aircraft is configured for up to 72 passengers in an all-business-class layout. Until July 2020, it was operated by UK charter specialist TAG Aviation (United Kingdom) (VIP, Farnborough) on behalf of TCS World Travel and Four Seasons. LOTI launched in late 2020 and focuses on the high-end leisure market. It currently sells package luxury tours to the Maldives and Seychelles including flights operated by either Azur Air or Aeroflot. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Azur Air’s remaining nine B757-200s seat up to 210 or 238 passengers in all-economy layouts. The new B757 will be the airline’s fourth aircraft registered in Russia after three B767-300(ER)s. The remaining 29 aircraft in its fleet are registered in Bermuda.