On June 28, 2013 a UTair Aviation Eurocopter BO 105 helicopter joined the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute expedition organized by State Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute.

The UTair helicopter is outfitted with special equipment for conducting operations in the polar conditions and departed to participate in the project from the deck of the diesel-electric icebreaker Capitan Dranizyn. The UTair crew has as its objectives visual ice reconnaissance, surveillance flights for research and facing practical challenges of flight operations including take-off and landing on a moving ship. The highly experienced crew is specially trained in high latitude operations and deck flying.

Previously, in July 2011, a UTair BO 105 helicopter took part in escorting the icebreaker Capitan Dranizyn on its way to  the Franz Josef Land archipelago – the nearest landmass to the North Pole in the Eastern hemisphere.

The UTair Group includes airlines conducting passenger and cargo operations with fixed wing and rotor wing aircraft as well as enterprises offering MRO, personnel training, flight services and air transportation sales services. UTair Aviation is the Group’s core enterprise and includes UTair-Express, UTair-Ukraine, UTair-Cargo, Turukhan, JSC Nefteyuganskiy, Vostok, Helisur, UTair Europe, UTair South Africa and UTair India as well as UTair-Technichs, UTair-Engineering and other enterprises. UTair Group headquarters are situated in Surgut. Subsidiaries are located in Sugut, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansyisk, Moscow and other cities in Russia and throughout the world. The Group operates more than 240 fixed wing aircraft and more than 350 helicopters.  In 2012 UTair Group aircraft transported 9,385,398 passengers, 24.3% more than in 2011. Passenger turnover of the Group increased by 29.4% over 2011 and reached a total of 16,072,900,200 pkm. Total logged flight hours of the Group’s rotor wing aircraft reached 166,400 hours, a YoY increase of 19.2%. http://www.aari.nw.ru/