Boeing 737-800 | 1998

Airline - Russian International Airlines
Aircraft - Boeing 737-800 | VP-BHA
Delivered to Russian International Airlines, 1998
Stored at Mineralnye Vody Airport, 2016
Sold to ILFC, 2017
Leased to Servicio Aéreo de Honduras, 2017
Livery - Standard 1992
Country - Russia

In 1998 Russian International Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 737-800 (registered VP-BHA and named after early 20th century poet Alexander Blok). The airline was a launch customer of the type. The new 737s were meant to create a large robust regional fleet for RIA to be used on domestic and European flights. The main aim was to phase out all fifteen 737-400s and (more importantly) retire the 100+ Tupolev Tu-154s the airline had in its fleet. As such, the total order was for an astounding number of 737s (for the time) - eighty in total, to be delivered before the end of 2005 (the same year that the last Tupolev would leave the fleet).

This gigantic order had no precedent in Russia, and was incredibly controversial move, requiring (at list prices) over five billion dollars - or, in Russian terms - 1.5 trillion rubles - to be invested in the fleet modernization at the time. Because most of this was financed with government money, it caused a scandal when the order was placed in 1994, with President Yeltsin's administration being heavily criticized for investing this much in the national airline while the country wallowed in the midst of an economic crisis. Some critics who still shared Soviet-era anti-American sentiments complained that the all-737 regional fleet would create too much of a dependence on the US for maintenance, parts, and training, which prompted Russian International Airlines (and therefore Yeltsin's government) to place an even larger order for Airbus narrowbodies in order to 'prevent too much reliance on either one of the manufacturers'. The world watched in awe, amazed by the enormous ambition's of Russia's flag carrier.