737 New Generation | 2007-2008

(TOP)
Airline - Moscavia
Aircraft - Boeing 737-700 | EI-KDT
Delivered to Korea Line, 1998
Sold to Moscavia, 2007
Stored at Moscow Domodedovo International Airport, 2020
Livery - Standard 1994
Country - Russia

(BOTTOM)
Airline - Moscavia
Aircraft - Boeing 737-800 | EI-KFU
Delivered to Moscavia, 2008
Livery - Standard 1994
Country - Russia

Recognizing the need to modernize its short/medium-range fleet with newer and more efficient aircraft, Moscavia began around 2005-2006 to search for ways to acquire large numbers of 737 New Generation planes. Several sources were quickly found. The first was South Korean airline Korea Line, which was looking to sell off 15 of its 737-700s, each less than a decade old. These were all sold to Moscavia in 2007 and 2008 - EI-KDT, shown above, was one of them. While negotiating that deal, Moscavia also placed an order with Boeing for 25 737-700s and 55 737-800s, slated for delivery some time after 2010. Plans quickly changed, however - the global financial crisis caused many order slots to free up, and Moscavia was able to quickly advance its 737 orders, getting all of its newly-built -700s between 2008 and 2012, and all -800s between 2008 and 2017.

For many airlines, taking delivery of many new planes during the 2008 recession would have been a problem - there was not enough air travel demand to justify the increase in fleet size, and not enough money to pay for the new aircraft. For Moscavia, however, the second issue was solved by owner Oleg Baghdassarian's deep pockets, while the first problem did not exist in the first place due to the airline's fleet structure. Between 2007 and 2011, Moscavia retired 46 Tupolev Tu-154s, 14 737-200s, and 18 737-400s. The removal of these older and less efficient aircraft meant that despite the new 737NGs, the narrowbody fleet actually decreased from 145 to 124 during this timeframe. With the Il-76s and -86s being retired during this time as well, Moscavia became an all-Boeing airline, with a fleet age, route network, and service quality on par with major European carriers.