For a long time, Red Wings airline only offered charter flights to tourist locations. In Summer 2012, the company decided to reorganize itself to offer scheduled flights and started service to 7 Russian cities from Moscow Vnukovo Airport.
In that time, I had the chance to take one of these regular flights with Red Wings, from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk. It took place on 8 November 2012. The flight number was IN-125 with departure from Vnukovo at 11:50 AM. The plane was a Tu-204-100B, tail number RA-64047.
Vnukovo Airport
This was the first flight I took that boarded at the new Terminal A in Vnukovo Airport, which opened only in 2011.
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On the inside, the terminal looked modern and attractive. The furnishings reminded me of Domodedovo Airport from 10 years ago, when everything was still new and there was lots of free space, with few flights and little people.
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The check-in stands were obviously planned to accommodate large crowds. However, during the time I was there, they were almost completely deserted.
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Just two stands were quite enough to process check-ins for my flight.
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An interesting feature of the new terminal was the glass roof, through which you could see the sky and which let in plenty of natural light.
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After being cleared by security, I stepped into the long waiting area, well lit by large windows.
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I thought the online bulletin board was very convenient. It featured a map of the terminal with the destinations marked right next to the boarding gates.
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Construction crews were hard at work outside. The renovations are still ongoing.
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Another Red Wings airliner was waiting at the terminal for international flights.
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In the waiting area, every gate included plenty of seating.
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Next we boarded a shuttle (not all of the terminal's jet bridges have been installed yet) and were taken to the plane.
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The Tu-204-100 Jet
Red Wings is the only airline which employs (or rather, employed) exclusively Russian Tu-204-100 planes. These airliners have a one-class configuration of 210 economy seats.
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My flight was nearly empty. A total of about 30 people.
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This plane was made in 2008. The interior still looked new and fresh, with red leather upholstery in the cabin. You can see that the airliner was specially made for Red Wings as the company's colors – red and grey – were very prominent.
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Flying on the Tu-204 was very comfortable. The seats could recline pretty far, and there was plenty of leg room.
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The roomy luggage racks are also worth a mention.
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Each passenger had a personal reading light and an air vent.
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The light switch and flight attendant buttons were located right on the arm rest.
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The restroom was small. Towards the end of the flight the water somehow ran out, even though there were very few passengers.
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In-Flight Service
Red Wings isn't known for stellar service. The airline tries to provide a minimal amount of standard services. On our flight, which was just over 4 hours long, the amenities consisted of newspapers (I should say: multiple copies of one newspaper - "Komsomolskaya Pravda"), blankets and food.
Meals consisted of drinks (served twice, at the beginning and near the end of the flight), hot food (a choice of meat and buckwheat, chicken and pasta, or fish and rice). There were alcoholic beverages available at the mini-bar onboard (Grolsch beer was 150 rubles or $5 / bottle, whiskey was 800 rubles or about $27 for a third of a liter; vodka and cognac were also available).
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Though the flight left Moscow at around mid-day, it was dark by the time we landed.
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The reason for that is because we were headed east. We arrived in Krasnoyarsk at 8:25 PM local time.
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The baggage claim at Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo Airport is located in a separate building from the terminal.
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One last look at our plane from the window.
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