Whizzing Over Ukraine on a Soviet Era TriJet: Kyiv to Odesa on a Motor Sich Yak-40
This flight was taken in 2018 and I have re-uploaded this post due to moving blogs. I am uncertain as to the current status of this aircraft and my thoughts are with those impacted by the ongoing conflict
Background
One may say with reasonable confidence that your average traveller outside Ukraine will have likely never heard of Motor Sich Airlines. Whilst connecting three major Ukrainian cities with Kyiv, the airline’s international route network does not extend beyond Minsk. Meanwhile, the airline operates a minuscule fleet compared to the national airline, Ukraine International Airlines. However, Motor Sich Airlines does enjoy a somewhat legendary status amongst many aviation enthusiasts across Europe as it is the last remaining carrier outside of Russia to operate Soviet era airliners on scheduled passenger services on the continent. Such flights are usually operated with the airline’s fleet of three Antonov An-24s and the sole Antonov An-140 (admittedly not a Soviet-built aircraft, but an incredibly rare type nonetheless).
Given the above, I had long been planning a trip with the airline. Thanks to the abundance of cheap flights between London and Kyiv, as well as the decent ticket prices for most Motor Sich Airlines services, this was not to be an incredibly costly mission. However, I could never muster the time to make the trip. As the airline’s fleet is trackable on flight radar apps, I was aware that the airline’s three Yak-40s and single Antonov An-72 made occasional appearances on the airline’s passenger services however usage of these was sporadic and failed to appear on timetables. However, in mid-December 2018, I noticed that the airline’s sole Antonov An-140 had been on the ground in Zaporizhia since the start of the month and that the airline’s two Ukrainian-registered Yak-40s had been operating the airline’s services from Kyiv to both Odesa and Zaporizhia. Seeing this as my cue to finally make the trip to Ukraine, I soon started planning a trip. Seeing as this was to be my first trip outside of Kyiv, I opted to head to Odesa owing to its multiple tourist attractions within the city centre. This was a decision that I was later very pleased to have made as whilst in Ukraine, the Zaporizhia-based Yak-40 was put into service on the carrier’s Minsk route rather than flying to Kyiv.
Booking
Despite Motor Sich Airlines operating a fleet of mostly ‘vintage’ aircraft, the carrier’s website is quite the opposite – bright, modern and easy to navigate. Furthermore, aside from the airline’s booking engine, the site offers a wide range of pages detailing virtually everything an average passenger would want to know about their flight and the airline. For those not so au fait with Ukrainian, the site can also be used in English and Russian and I failed to spot a single error in language for the former option. Wasting no time, I selected my route (Kyiv-Odesa) and dates before searching for flights and was soon presented with several options.
As I had expected, the aircraft type for all of these was, as always, listed as the ‘An-140’. With less than a week to go, each of these was a little more expensive than one can expect to pay if they book several weeks in advance, totalling 4195 Hryvni (around £120/€130/$150). After selecting my flights, I was taken to the passenger information page before heading to the payment page. After entering my card details and going through my bank’s verification procedure, I received confirmation of my purchase and was all set to go and fly on some interesting aircraft!
From start to finish, the entire ticket booking procedure took no more than three minutes and was as easy, if not easier than booking with a major international airline. In fact, I suspect that Motor Sich Airlines perhaps offers the easiest booking experience of all airlines still operating such vintage Soviet types.
Offering online check-in, I was pleased to find that this worked without any issues. Upon entering my details, I was taken to the seat selection screen. Whilst the aircraft type was still listed as an Antonov An-140, this online showed rows three to seven as selectable indicating that a much smaller aircraft, aka the Yak-40, would be operating the service.
The Flight
As with many of those who make the trip to Ukraine to fly on Motor Sich Airlines’ classic aircraft, I had spent the night before my flight in the only bookable hotel within a reasonable distance of Kyiv Zhulyany’s terminal, the Royal Congress Hotel. Whilst not exactly a luxury five-star hotel, this was a pleasant enough stay and came at a reasonable price, thereby leaving me with little to complain about. Whilst I had already checked in online and lacked any hold luggage, hoping to receive a physical copy of my boarding pass I intended on stopping by at the airport’s check-in desks before my flight. As with all of Motor Sich Airlines’ flights, check-in for the flight to Odesa would open ninety minutes before departure at 0820. Not wanting to cut things too fine, yet also realising the likely lack of entertainment options at Zhulyany Airport’s domestic terminal, I aimed to arrive there at 0830 and thus left the warmth of the hotel at 0820.
From the hotel, the walk to the terminal is fairly straightforward and after leaving the hotel, I made my way down the snowy Kyiv streets, arriving at the airport’s colourful Antonov An-24 gate guard a little under ten minutes later. From there, I made my way towards the fairly large international terminal before turning left towards the much more modest domestic terminal, appropriately named ‘Terminal D’. At that time, serving as the starting point for only four departures each weekday, all of which were operated by Motor Sich Airlines, the terminal is understandably small with a total of just three check-in desks. Upon arriving at the terminal, I found myself being the only passenger in the landside departure area which resulted in everything feeling a little personalised as if I was departing on one of the business jets parked up outside. Turning to the three check-in desks, only two of these were open – one dedicated to checking in passengers for Motor Sich’s 1000 Antonov An-24 flight to Lviv and the other for the 0950 flight to Odesa. As soon as I arrived at the counter I was given a friendly greeting in English, which was a little surprising seeing as this was the first time someone in Ukraine had assumed I was not Ukrainian!
Lacking any luggage, check-in was a quick and painless process and I was soon handed a Kyiv Airport branded boarding pass. With nothing but check-in desks in the landside area, I had no reason not to head airside so I made my way onto the security check area. There, passengers could find two checkpoints although only one of these was open that morning which I found to be staffed by unusually friendly security staff. Being the only passenger there at the time, I managed to pass through this in no more than a minute before I found myself as one of only five passengers in the terminal’s airside area.
Airside, the domestic terminal of Kyiv Zhulyany airport appeared to bear a strong resemblance to many of Europe’s low-cost terminals – basic but modern and serving its purpose. Importantly, everything appeared to be well-polished and perfectly clean, including the toilets. Furthermore, free wifi was available throughout which I found to work well for the duration of my stay. In terms of facilities, these are limited to a small independent café and a miniscule business lounge. Having not had a coffee that morning, I opted to head to the former where I parted with a reasonable 54 Hryvni for a cappuccino.
For those aviation enthusiasts interested in the airport’s movements, several large windows are provided through the terminal, although pointing in the wrong direction and not presenting vistas of most of the airport’s stands, views out of these were largely limited to a large Airbus Corporate Jet at a nearby stand as well as several military Antonovs and stored jets in the distance. At around 0900, the terminal was filled with the distinctive roar of a pair of Ivchenko AI-24 turboprop engines as one of Motor Sich Airlines’ Antonov An-24s taxied past having just arrived from Lviv. This aircraft was then followed by a seemingly much quieter Yak-40 as it made its morning arrival from Odesa, confirming that the flight would be operated by the jet that I had come to Ukraine to fly!
As the flight’s scheduled boarding time of 0930 approached, the number of passengers in the terminal steadily increased however this remained far from the level needed to fill Motor Sich Airlines’ two departing aircraft. Just before 0930, the two staff members who had been manning the check-in headed through to the airside area and a typical airport Cobus pulled up outside – both good signs that boarding would commence on time. Boarding for the flight to Odesa was announced on the dot in Ukrainian only at which time around a third of the passengers inside the terminal stood up and began to queue at Gate G3. Moments later, my boarding pass was scanned and I made my way onto the very cold bus. Seeing as there were relatively few passengers bound for Odesa that morning, within three minutes of boarding’s commencement, all passengers had made their way onto the bus before the doors closed and the bus headed off. The short journey over to the remote stand offered decent views of a selection of locally based and visiting business jets, all of which took the form of modern Western-built types before the bus pulled up at the rear of the Yak-40.
The aircraft that would be undertaking the flight down to Odesa that morning would be Yak-40, UR-88310. Manufactured at Yakovlev’s Saratov plant in February 1980, whilst this aircraft was by no means young, it was the youngest Yak in Motor Sich Airlines’ fleet. Unlike many Soviet-built aircraft, rather than commencing its life with Aeroflot, this particular aircraft’s first mission took place in much warmer climes, operating as a VIP transport aircraft for the Madagascan Air Force. After seventeen years, in 1997 the aircraft made its way back north and settled in Ukraine where it was first operated by Dniproavia. In 2002, the aircraft was then transferred to Challenge Aero where it operated flights for the country’s Interpipe Group in a VIP configuration before being placed in storage at Dnipropetrovsk. Fortunately, thanks to Motor Sich Airlines, this was not the end of the road for this venerable trijet and in 2010, the aircraft began a new life with the carrier where it first operated in a hybrid Motor Sich-Challenge Aero hybrid scheme before being painted in the carrier’s blue and white livery.
Once the bus came to a halt, the doors opened and a small queue began to form at the aircraft’s entrance. Noticing a family, one of the ground staff members pulled these passengers aside and allowed them to board the aircraft first. After this family had made it safely onto the aircraft, boarding for the rest of the flight’s passengers commenced. Despite having flown on several McDonnell Douglas MD-80s, this was my first time boarding an aircraft through the rear door – an experience that is compulsory on a Yak-40 unless you fancy climbing into the aircraft through one of the emergency exits. Reaching the top of the steps, I stepped through the thick pressure door and into the aircraft’s seemingly spacious galley. There, the sole flight attendant, dressed in a somewhat unofficial-looking uniform consisting of a black fur coat from their own wardrobe welcomed passengers aboard the aircraft in Ukrainian. Seated in Seat 6A at the rear of the cabin, the journey to my seat did not take too long and I soon sat down and strapped myself in for the ride across the Ukrainian skies.
Originally designed to seat passengers in a 1-2 configuration, most (if not all) of the few scheduled operators of the Yak-40 operate the aircraft in a 2-2 configuration. Subsequently, the seats are fairly narrow, however, just like on a bus, these are conjoined! Whilst row 6 may have been an exit row, this did not allow for any extra legroom, with the amount of space provided by these serving to be somewhat terrible. However, as an enthusiast, I did not care about the uncomfortable seat as I was just happy to be onboard such a rare aircraft! Onboard, the cabin features a very beige colour scheme that proves to be somewhat akin to the interior of a business jet with beige leather covering the walls and brown leather covering the seats. Given the heavy scent of leather throughout the cabin, I can only assume that this is real. Turning to the floor, this was covered in beige carpet which stretched to around a third of the way up the cabin walls. Interestingly, onboard call bells appeared to be non-existent with the PSU’s featuring nothing other than air vents. Finally, not only did the cabin appear to be spotlessly clean, but I also failed to spot any signs of wear and tear which was rather impressive given the Yak-40’s age.
After examining the cabin and seat, I turned my attention to the contents of the seatback pocket. As one would expect, this contained a safety card which was personalised for that particular aircraft. Whilst they would hopefully never be needed, I failed to spot any lifejackets underneath the seats, in spite of the safety card claiming these to be located there. Furthermore, I could not help but notice the aircraft’s absence of oxygen masks which was a little surprising given the fact that virtually all of the aircraft’s flights occur at an altitude greater than 10,000 feet. Seeing as the airline lacks an inflight magazine, a copy of Kyiv Zhulyany Airport’s magazine could also be found here, whilst a Ukrainian magazine entitled ‘Financoff’ could be found in the neighbouring seatback pocket.
Given the flight’s seemingly light load, boarding came to an end within a few short minutes. Onboard, most solo passengers including myself ended up with the luxury of empty neighbouring seats allowing for slightly better comfort than one can usually expect onboard this cramped jet. As soon as boarding was complete, the stairs were retracted and the cabin door was closed with a loud thud. This was immediately followed by an announcement by the flight attendant which was made in Ukrainian only. Even had I been able to understand this, the announcement was soon drowned out by the vacuum cleaner-like sound which preceded the high-pitched noise of the aircraft’s three Ivchenko AI-25 engines firing up into life on three sides. Once the announcement came to an end, lacking a ‘real’ jumpseat, the flight attendant took Seat 7C, the aircraft’s rearmost row which was reserved for crew during the flight with two flight engineers or pilots also seated there.
At 0945, the Yak powered itself away from its stand before promptly turning right and heading along the taxiway towards Runway 08. Taking around five minutes, the journey to the runway took the aircraft past a line of a mixture of stored and active business jets as well as a Saab 340. At the flight’s scheduled departure time of 0950, the aircraft powered onto the runway before coming to a halt. After a moment’s pause, the aircraft’s three engines roared into life and the aircraft began its powerful journey down the runway, passing a host of stored Boeing 737 Classics and McDonnell Douglas MD-80s before taking to the skies and commencing a typical Soviet-era aircraft style shallow climb. During the initial climb out an aerial view of the airport’s Oleg Antonov State Aviation Museum and its large collection of interesting aircraft could be had which was soon replaced by residential buildings. Whilst departures from Kyiv Zhulyany’s Runway 08 can be scenic, offering superb views of Ukraine’s capital, the low cloud and poor visibility meant that only seconds after departure, the aircraft climbed into the white winter clouds.
As the Yak noisily ascended through the thick layer of clouds, rather surprisingly not a single bump could be felt as the pilots turned the aircraft onto a southerly heading putting this on course for Odesa. After several minutes, blue skies appeared above the aircraft at which point the flight attendant stood up and made their way to the rear galley to finish preparations for the morning flight’s inflight service. Unlike competitor Ukraine International Airlines whose domestic economy passengers are treated to little bar a cup of water, those travelling on Motor Sich Airlines’ flights are offered a complimentary snack. Several minutes before the aircraft levelled off at 21,000 feet, at 1007 the flight attendant passed through the cabin distributing clingfilm-wrapped styrofoam trays containing that morning’s snack, doing so in a rather cool manner. Being seated at the rear of the cabin, I was one of the first onboard to receive one of these and was handed this without a word. Examining the package’s contents, this contained a well-wrapped crumbly cake containing several raisins, a couple of boiled sweets and two packets of sugar. As soon as the flight attendant had handed these out, they retreated to the rear galley before soon reemerging with a tray full of boiling hot teas in Motor Sich Airlines branded paper cups.
Around ten minutes after the trays had been handed out, the flight attendant passed through the cabin collecting the remains of this service before taking Seat 7C. With nothing to see below except the Yak 40’s stubby wing and with no neighbour to push past, I decided to make the most of my freedom and head to the aircraft’s sole toilet. Perhaps coming as an afterthought to the designers and engineers at the Yakovlev Design Bureau, this is squeezed in at the rear of the galley next to the aircraft’s entrance. Upon entering the toilet, I found this to be rather small and cramped thanks to the curvature of the fuselage whilst the location of this right next to one of the aircraft’s engines made this perhaps the noisiest place onboard. However, aside from the problems associated with its positioning onboard, like the rest of the aircraft, I found this to be clean with few signs of wear and tear. As one ought to expect, this was stocked with all the basics – namely soap, tissues and a real towel for drying hands.
Turning to examine the inflight entertainment, seeing as neither of the two inflight magazines were published in English, those who are not flying with the airline for their rare aircraft may wish to bring their own entertainment along with a pair of noise cancelling headphones. On a slightly related note, those passengers who wish to reach their destination in as short a time as possible may wish to opt for UIA over Motor Sich Airlines. Examining the Kyiv to Odesa route, the faster cruising speeds of UIA’s Boeing 737s and Embraer 190s ensure that such aircraft usually complete the journey between Borispol and Odesa in under fifty minutes. However cruising along in the Yak-40 at a steady pace of 220 knots meant that the flight that morning was completed in a comparatively lengthy 1H21 – although this is most definitely not something that I am complaining about!
At 1045, the level of noise produced by the aircraft’s three Ivchenko engines appeared to decrease a little and moments later the jet could be felt sinking downwards back towards the ground. Perhaps seeing this as their cue to commence preparations for the flight’s arrival, the flight attendant passed through the cabin collecting any remaining rubbish before making one final sweep through the cabin to ensure all was in position for landing. After slowly sinking for a good twenty minutes, the Yak-40 sank into the thick cloud layer and a short while later the flaps were partially extended and the landing gear lowered whilst flying through this. After banking left to line up for an approach to Odessa’s 2800 metre-long Runway 34, the sight of rather barren frozen fields came into view below the aircraft which was followed by several villages as the aircraft sank lower.
At the last minute, full flaps were lowered and the engine noise fluctuated greatly before our engines went rather quiet as the aircraft whizzed over the perimeter fence before making a very gentle landing in Odessa at 1111. Once on the ground, the cabin was filled with noise as the reverse thrust came into life whilst the aircraft gently decelerated before turning off near the end of the runway. Looking outside, the only other aircraft on the apron at the time took the form of a UIA Embraer 190 that had recently arrived from Kyiv Boryspil. Within a minute or so, the aircraft pulled into its stand and the engines spooled down at which point the cabin temporarily fell into darkness. With no airstairs that needed to be connected, the rear door was soon opened and disembarkation commenced. Ensuring I got my money’s worth from the flight, I allowed my fellow passengers to disembark before I finally stood up and made my way off the aircraft at 1119. After thanking the crew member, I cautiously headed down the rear steps and into the freezing December air before stepping into the waiting bus. As soon as I was onboard, this sped off towards the airport’s new terminal, which at that time only served arrivals whilst the airport’s old terminal served all departing flights.
After a quick walk through the arrivals hall, I passed into the landside area and made my way past the army of taxi drivers before heading out of the terminal and towards the car park. Considering that one of the drivers had quoted a costly 900 Hryvni for the 10 kilometre ride into the city centre, I instead opted for the 5 Hryvni trolleybus.
Summary
To be honest, any ‘normal’ passenger would have likely found the Yak-40 to be noisy and uncomfortable, especially when compared to modern day jets. However, failing to fall into this category, whilst the flight may have been a little cramped, I enjoyed every minute of this and was pleased to get the opportunity to fly in a rare Yak-40 with relative ease and at a decent price. Turning to the airline, booking with Motor Sich and checking in online was perfectly easy and whilst the flight attendant may have seemed a little cold, the morning snack was a nice, albeit expected addition to this short flight. Several months after making this trip, I later sampled one of the airline’s Antonov An-24s from Lviv to Kyiv as well as the airline’s then single other Yak-40 from Zaporizhia to Minsk.
