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Private company

VIM Airlines

Logo: Source: http://www.vim-avia.com/, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

Russian airline (2000–2017)

VIM Airlines (legally VIM Avia) was a Russian charter airline headquartered in Moscow based at Domodedovo International Airport. It offered international scheduled and charter operations for both passengers and cargo as well as wet lease services. Its licence was revoked by 4 November 2017 after its operations were suspended a few weeks earlier.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2000Founded1

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VIM Airlines Ilyushin Il-62
Photo: Alex Pereslavtsev, GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons5

VIM Airlines (legally VIM Avia) was a Russian charter airline headquartered in Moscow based at Domodedovo International Airport. It offered international scheduled and charter operations for both passengers and cargo as well as wet lease services. Its licence was revoked by 4 November 2017 after its operations were suspended a few weeks earlier.2

Corporate structure

VIM Airlines sits at the top of its group. 2 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • VIM Airlines Moscow

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

VIM Airlines was established by Viktor Ivanovich Merkulov (hence the name of the company) and started operations in 2000, with an Ilyushin Il-62M. At the end of 2004, the company acquired Chitaavia and Aerobratsk, followed by Russian Sky Airlines in 2005.

On 28 September 2017, CEO Alexander Cochnev and Chief Accountant Yekaterina Panteleyeva were arrested after an embezzlement case against the employers of the company.

In late September 2017, VIM Airlines' aircraft were seized at foreign airports and several routes were cancelled, including all operations from its home base Moscow-Domodedovo. The airline's aircraft were seized by lessors in Turkey following ongoing investigations by the Russian authorities. The airline suspended all charter operations in September 2017 and suspended all scheduled operations on 15 October 2017. On 4 November 2017, the airline's license was revoked by Russian authorities as the airline was unable to resume flights.

From Wikipedia’s article on VIM Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Former fleet

As of 23 September 2017, the VIM Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Retired fleet

VIM Airlines previously operated the following aircraft:

Ilyushin Il-62M

Tupolev Tu-154 (leased from Aviaprad)

Read the full text

Yakovlev Yak-42 (leased from KrasAir)

From Wikipedia’s article on VIM Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 2017Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 2000Founded Founded in Moscow1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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