Bek Air

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bek Air
Бек Эйр / Bek Eir
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
Z9 BEK BEKAIR
Founded1999 (as Berkut Air)
Commenced operations1 September 2011
Ceased operations17 April 2020
West Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan
Websitebekair.aero

Bek Air was a Kazakh airline headquartered in Oral.

History

The airline was founded in 1999 as a business jet operator, Berkut Air, and since started domestic scheduled services. In 2008, Bek Air purchased shares of stock in Oral Ak Zhol Airport, which was a base airport for the company. Bek Air has committed to investing KZT10 million (US$30,000) a month to reconstruct the airport's runway, which was in poor condition.[citation needed] In 2011, the airline was rebranded as Bek Air.

On 27 December 2019, following the crash of

emergency location beacons, and assessed the Bek Air fleet's condition as poor.[4]

On 17 April 2020, the AAK—citing the airline's failure to correct safety violations—recalled Bek Air's air operator's certificate and the airworthiness certificates of its remaining Fokker 100 aircraft, stating that the company must undergo full certification anew before conducting airline operations.[5]

Destinations

Bek Air's destinations included:[citation needed]

 Kazakhstan

Fleet

Recent fleet

A Fokker 100 of Bek Air, seen in 2014.

As of January 2020, prior to ceasing operations, the Bek Air fleet consisted of these aircraft:[7]

Bek Air fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
B E Total
Fokker 100 8 9 100 109 One aircraft crashed as
Flight 2100.[8]
Irkut MC-21-300
10[9] TBA Deliveries were to begin in 2021. These aircraft were set to replace the Fokker 100s.[10]
Total: 8 10

Fleet development

Bek Air acquired its first Fokker 100 in 2012 after initially leasing aircraft from InvestAvia. In 2013, a second Fokker 100 was purchased from Mass Lease from the Netherlands and between 2014 and 2017, another six Fokker 100 aircraft were leased from Mass Lease. In 2019, one more Fokker 100 was bought from Air Panama. At the 2019 MAKS Air Show, at Zhukovsky International Airport, Moscow, Bek Air signed a letter of intent for 10 Irkut MC-21 aircraft. The delivery of the new aircraft was expected to be in the second half of 2021 and to replace the existing Fokker 100s.[11]

Former fleet

In the past, Bek Air operated a fleet of Yakovlev Yak-40, Tupolev Tu-154, BAC One-Eleven, and Dassault Falcon 20 aircraft in a VIP configuration.[citation needed]

Accidents and incidents

On 27 December 2019, a

Nur-Sultan, crashed shortly after take-off from Almaty International Airport at 7:22 am, killing 12 of the 98 people on board.[12] The aircraft was unable to climb and crashed into a concrete wall and a vacant building. As a result, Bek Air's flight authorization after the accident was suspended by authorities.[13]

External links

Media related to Bek Air at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. ^ "Bek Air — Бек Эйр". aviata.kz. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019.
  2. ^ "Купить авиабилеты Бек Эйр, цены. Билеты на самолеты Bek Air, бронирование онлайн". www.chocotravel.com. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019.
  3. ^ Kaminski-Morrow, David. "Bek Air grounded after fatal Fokker 100 accident at Almaty". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  4. ^ Sadikhova, Nargiz (21 January 2020). "Kazakhstan's Aviation Administration Reveals Violations in Kazakh Bek Air Operations". en.trend.az. Baku, Azerbaijan: Trend News Agency. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  5. ^ Sadikhova, Nargiz (17 April 2020). "Operations certificate of Kazakhstan's Bek Air recalled following plane crash". en.trend.az. Baku, Azerbaijan: Trend News Agency. Retrieved 23 April 2020. "Since Bek Air JSC failed to fulfill instructions to rectify violations issued by AAK and the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office, the operator certificate of Bek Air JSC is recalled," the report said.
  6. ^ "Bek Air. Новое направление полетов Алматы-Актау-Алматы". International Travel plus. 26 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  7. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2019): 18.
  8. ^ "Deaths as plane crashes near Kazakhstan airport". Dec 27, 2019. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  9. ^ "UAC goes "all in" and signs agreements for 20 MC-21s at MAKS". www.aerotime.aero. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019.
  10. ^ "15 killed as Bek Air Fokker 100 crashes in Almaty". Airlinerwatch. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
  11. ^ "MC-21 Scores New Orders". Airliner World. October 2019: 17.
  12. ^ "Dozens survive Kazakhstan plane crash". BBC News. 2019-12-27. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  13. ^ Kaminski-Morrow, David. "Bek Air grounded after fatal Fokker 100 accident at Almaty". Flight Global. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-28.