Boeing 757-200 | 1994

Airline - Moscavia
Aircraft - Boeing 757-200 | EI-NKE
Delivered to Vesuvio, 1991
Stored at Naples International Airport, 1993
Sold to AerCap, 1993
Leased to Air Wanabada, 1993
Returned to AerCap, 1994
Leased to Moscavia, 1994
Returned to AerCap, 2020
Stored at Pinal Airpark, 2020
Livery - Standard 1994
Country - Russia

After the crash of Moscavia flight 2 in New York in June 1994, and the ensuing ban on Il-86 flights into the US, Moscavia had no aircraft capable of flying transatlantic. Oleg Baghdassarian was determined, however, to resume flights to the US before the end of the year, and found his solution in two 757s that had just been returned to AerCap by a struggling Tanzanian carrier. Snatching up the two aircraft in September 1994, Moscavia began operating them to New York via Shannon in October of the same year. Configured with 20 seats in First Class and 132 in Economy (see the seatmap below), these 757s cut capacity on the route in half. Apart from the two leased starting from 1994, eight more joined the fleet in 2000/2001, in a denser, more leisure-oriented configuration. Due to more widebodies joining the fleet at that time, starting in 2000 the two original 757s were relegated to flying transcontinental routes to far-eastern Russian cities like Vladivostok, as well as some higher-demand European routes, like Paris.

Also in 1994, a new livery was introduced on the newly-leased 757s. This was a relatively small change from the original fully white one, adding a gray belly. The titles on the left side were kept in Russian, but now painted in English on the right. Additionally, text reading 'Международные Авиалинии Москвы' ('International Airlines of Moscow') was added, also in Russian on the left and English on the right like the titles.