Russian leasing company VTB Leasing and Tajikistan’s privately owned air carrier Somon Air have signed a memorandum on cooperation, under which the project on delivery of two Embraer E190E2s to Somon Air will be developed, according to report posted on VTB’s website.
The document was reportedly inked by VTB Leasing Director General Dmitry Ivanter and Somon Air CEO Thomas Walter Hallam II.
The Embraer E-Jet E2 family are medium-range jet airliners developed by Embraer, succeeding the original E-Jet. The program was launched at the Paris Air Show in 2013. The first variant, the E190-E2, took its first flight on 23 May 2016 and was certified on February 28, 2018.
Embraer had E190E2 certified on February 28, 2018. Certification needed 46,000 test hours on ground and 2,200 in flight. Due to better than expected fuel burn during tests, in January 2018 Embraer increased the range to 2,880 nmi (5,330 km).
VTB Leasing (formally known as Verulamium Finance Ltd) specializes in the aircraft leasing services market. VTB Leasing has regional offices in the Russian Federation and subsidiary companies in CIS countries (Ukraine and Belarus) and Europe (Cyprus and Ireland).
Somon Air is the first private airline in Tajikistan with an office headquartered in Dushanbe. The airline operations are based at Dushanbe International Airport. The airline started operating on February 5, 2008 with regular flights to Moscow and Dubai.
Somon Air also serves as the official carrier of President of the Republic of Tajikistan and other Tajikistan high-ranking officials.
Since formation, Somon Air has been primarily focused on passenger service and transportation to Eastern Europe and other locations. Most flights to international destinations operate from Dushanbe.
The airline uses the Boeing 737 in its fleet. Somon Air now operates 2 Boeing 737-300s, 2 Boeing 737-800s and 2 Boeing 737-900ERs.
