Irma’s first flight connected to Iran
Irma Air Service, a brand new cargo airline that uses very old aircraft, started operations in Kazakhstan in July. The start-up commenced with a flight to Tehran. The cargo it carried was chilled meat loaded onto an Ilyushin IL-18D, which has an eventful history behind it – and perhaps an exciting future too.
Irma Air Service’s Ilyushin IL-18D was built as an IL-20 surveillance aircraft for the Soviet air force in 1974, and first stationed in Odessa. In 1991 it became part of the inventory of the Ukrainian air force, and was then transferred to Pushkin for maintenance in 1993. It remained in Russia for five years, because Ukraine did not settle the cost of the repairs.
Finally, Lviv Airlines purchased the aircraft and converted it into a passenger version IL-18D. After the airline went bankrupt about ten years ago the aircraft, now owned by Kazakh East Wing Airlines, was on the ground again most of the time, as the latter concentrates on ambulance flights with its three JAK-40.
Irma, in contrast, wants more IL-18s, of which there are apparently only half a dozen still in the air worldwide. CEO Marina Zhapabaeva is quoted in national media as saying that “our interest is based on the aircraft’s low kerosene consumption. In addition, it has a spacious pressurised cabin in which temperatures can be kept constant.”