Bek Air
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| |||||||
| Founded | 1999 (as Berkut Air) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced operations | 1 September 2011 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 17 April 2020 | ||||||
| Hubs | |||||||
| Focus cities | Almaty | ||||||
| Fleet size | 8[1] | ||||||
| Destinations | 19[2] | ||||||
| Headquarters | Oral, West Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan | ||||||
| Website | bekair.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 is currently a base airport for the company. Bek Air has committed to investing KZT10 million (USD30,000) a month in order to reconstruct the airport's runway, which is in poor condition.[citation needed]
In 2011, the airline was rebranded as Bek Air.
On 27 December 2019, following the crash of Bek Air Flight 2100, the airline's operations were suspended until further notice by the Government of Kazakhstan.[3] On 17 April 2020, the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan (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.[4]
Destinations
Bek Air's destinations included the following domestic airports:[citation needed]
- Aktau – Aktau Airport[5]
- Aktobe – Aktobe Airport
- Almaty – Almaty International Airport
- Atyrau – Atyrau Airport
- Kyzylorda – Kyzylorda Airport
- Nur-Sultan – Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport
- Oral – Oral Ak Zhol Airport
- Oskemen – Oskemen Airport
- Pavlodar – Pavlodar Airport
- Shymkent – Shymkent Airport
Fleet
Recent fleet
As of January 2020, prior to ceasing operations, the Bek Air fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[6]
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | E | Total | ||||
| Fokker 100 | 8 | — | 9 | 100 | 109 | 1 aircraft crashed on 27 December 2019[7] |
| Irkut MC-21-300 | — | 10[8] | TBA | Deliveries were to begin in 2021. This aircraft was set to replace the Fokker 100s.[9] | ||
| 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 6 Fokker 100 aircraft were leased from Mass Lease. In 2019, 1 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.[10]
Former fleet
In the past, Bek Air operated a fleet of Yakovlev Yak-40, Tupolev Tu-154, BAC One-Eleven and Dassault Falcon 20 in an VIP-configuration.[citation needed]
Accidents and incidents
On 27 December 2019, a Fokker 100 operating as Bek Air Flight 2100, headed to Nur-Sultan, crashed shortly after takeoff from Almaty International Airport at 7:22 AM, killing twelve of the ninety-eight people on board.[11] The aircraft was unable to climb and was lost on radar. It crashed into a concrete wall as well as a vacant two story building under construction. As a result, Bek Air's flight authorization after the accident was suspended by authorities.[12]
External links
Media related to Bek Air at Wikimedia Commons
References
- ^ "Bek Air — Бек Эйр". aviata.kz. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019.
- ^ "Купить авиабилеты Бек Эйр, цены. Билеты на самолеты Bek Air, бронирование онлайн". www.chocotravel.com. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019.
- ^ Kaminski-Morrow, David. "Bek Air grounded after fatal Fokker 100 accident at Almaty". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Bek Air. Новое направление полетов Алматы-Актау-Алматы". International Travel plus. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
- ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2019): 18.
- ^ "Deaths as plane crashes near Kazakhstan airport". Dec 27, 2019. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "UAC goes "all in" and signs agreements for 20 MC-21s at MAKS". www.aerotime.aero. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019.
- ^ "15 killed as Bek Air Fokker 100 crashes in Almaty". Airlinerwatch. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ "MC-21 Scores New Orders". Airliner World. October 2019: 17.
- ^ "Dozens survive Kazakhstan plane crash". BBC News. 2019-12-27. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
- ^ 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.
