KD Avia: Connecting Russia to Europe

Following the breakup of the USSR various Aeroflot directorates gained their independence and spawned a wide variety of successor airlines, both inside Russia and within the newly independent republics. Kaliningrad found itself in an in-between space whereby it no longer bordered Russia but was still part of it. This enabled opportunity but also risk, which eventually didn't pay off for the Oblast's airline KD Avia.

Kaliningrad Avia Tupolev Tu-134A RA-65090 by DT Customs & KD Avia Boeing 737-300 EI-DJR by Herpa

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The Kaliningrad Oblast is nowadays a weird territorial peculiarity - an outcrop of Russia bordering Poland and Lithuania. Part of German East Prussia, until it was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1945, the Soviets also controlled the current Baltic states and so this region was directly connected with the rest of the USSR. Nowadays it is a strategic bargaining chip for Russia, which threatens to place nuclear weapons in it, and contains the only Russian port in the Baltic that is ice free in Winter.

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The biggest city in the Kaliningrad Oblast is Kaliningrad itself, formerly Königsberg, which has a relatively small population of around 500,000 (the population of the entire Oblast is about a million in all). Following Lithuanian independence in March 1990 Kaliningrad found itself marooned - cut off from the rest of the USSR (later Russia).

This hasn't necessarily been a bad thing as it's position has made it the headquarters of the Russian Baltic Fleet and the city itself has won the 'best city in Russia' every year between 2012-2015. It has been a major internal migration attraction in Russia.

Aldo Bidini (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2 ), via Wikimedia Commons

From an aviation perspective Kaliningrad-Avia (K8/KLN) was formed from the Belorussian CAD's Kaliningrad UFD/312th Flight. Although Kaliningrad was always a separate region it was historically too small to have its own separate CAD. The airline appears to have been operating somewhat separately by 1992, but still operated foreign services jointly with Aeroflot and so the fleet wore small 'Aeroflot Russian International Airlines' titles aft of the flight deck.

The initial fleet consisted of a selection of Tu-134As (around 10) and a pair of Tu-154Ms. The new colour scheme was quite attractive with a lovely blue striped tail and impressive winged logo over it, made up of a stylised K with Russian coloured flashes. 

The carrier was based at Khrabrovo Airport near Kaliningrad city. It appears to have flown throughout the nineties and into the early 2000s without getting itself into trouble or making much of a name for itself, but that changed in 2005.

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Konstantin von Wedelstaedt (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2 ), via Wikimedia Commons

On May 27, 2005 the airline changed its identity to KD Avia and focused on services connecting Khrabrovo to St Petersburg and Moscow. It also began to revitalise its fleet using secondhand Boeing 737 Classics. ​

Irish registered leased 737-300s began to arrive in May 2005 and later VP- registered 737-300s joined those. Ultimately 18 737-300s were in service and the airline attempted to make Khrabrovo a connection point for transit passengers between the Commonwealth of Independent States using modernised facilities at the airport.

In June 2007 the carrier expanded internationally into Europe as an attempt to use Kaliningrad's unique location as a gateway between Europe and Russia. The route system expanded to include international services to London (LGW), Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Hannover, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Munich, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Prague and Milan. These connected to ten Russian cities using the new £29.7 million transit terminal at Khrabrovo.

The airline's management obviously felt confident because in June 2008 KD Avia ordered 25 A319s from Airbus at the Berlin Airshow. Chairman Sergey Grishchenko said at the time:

"We are glad to have selected the Airbus A319 for our medium range fleet expansion. The A319 will contribute to the strengthening of Kaliningrad’s position as an important Russian transit hub and at the same time will enable us to further develop our route network,"

Alan Lebeda (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2 ), via Wikimedia Commons

Ultimately the experiment was not a success and the carrier collapsed in September 2009 with its AOC revoked on the 14th. The carrier had hoped to raise passenger numbers to 2 million per year but they only got to around 700,000. Two months afterwards the ​the airline's owner Sergei Grishchenko and executive director Leonid Itskov were charged with abuse of power and bankruptcy fraud.

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The airline never flew again and many of its 737s languished at various airports like this pair below at Vilnius in 2011.

Foma, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

References

Kaliningrad Oblast. Wikipedia
Expansion of airport will make life easier for tourists. The Times. Dec 2007
KD Avia Ceases Operations. Airways 2022
The Fleet History Of Former Russian Carrier KD Avia. Simple Flying
KD Avia Fleet. RZJets.net
Airshow brings Airbus Orders. The Engineer. June 2008