What is Metrojet?

The backstory to the Russian airline that lost a passenger flight today in Egypt carrying 224 people

On Saturday morning, October 31, an Airbus A321 Russian passenger flight operated by Metrojet crashed somewhere in the mountainous area of central Sinai, en route to St. Petersburg. According to flight records, there were 224 people on board. The flight was organized by the St.-Petersburg-based tourist company Brisco. Meduza recaps what we know, so far, about the Metrojet tragedy.

Metrojet, known in Russia as Kogalymavia, is a former regional airline. The company was founded in 1993, when it was known as Kolavia airlines. It first operated flights from Kogalym, Surgut, and Nizhnevartovsk (in central Russia) to Moscow. The company's original fleet consisted of two airplanes: a Tupolev Tu-134 and a Tupolev Tu-154.

In 2009, the company purchased Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, and two years later it began retiring its Tupolev planes. In May 2012, Kolavia rebranded itself as Metrojet and converted its entire fleet to Airbus aircraft, which included two Airbus A320s, seven A321s, and one Canadair Challenger 850. The average age of a Metrojet plane was 14 years old.

In 2013, Metrojet hired Segei Mordvintsev, who previously worked for the Russian airline Kuban. Mordvintsev made it the company's goal to expand its fleet further and decrease the frequency of delays with its flights. (Metrojet flights were notorious for failing to depart and arrive on time.)

Today, Metrojet's hub is Domodedovo Airport in Moscow. A large number of its flights go to and from Egypt.

This is not the first incident with a Metrojet flight. In January 2010, one of the company's Tupolev Tu-154s (at the time, chartered by the Iranian airline Taban Air) made a rough landing at Mashhad International Airport in Iran, injuring about 40 passengers. In April the same year, an Airbus A320 operated by Metrojet made an emergency landing at Domodedovo, after taking off from Moscow, bound for Hurghada, Egypt. In January 2011, one of Metrojet's Tupolev Tu-154s caught fire on the runway in Surgut. Passengers were evacuated from the plane, but three people died and 43 were injured.

The Airbus A321 that crashed in Egypt today had been in service for 18 years. Before entering Metrojet's fleet, it was owned by the Turkish airline Onur Air and the Lebanese airline Middle East Air. According to RIA Novosti, a source at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport in Egypt says the plane's crew contacted repairmen several times in the past week to work on the aircraft's engine, which was having problems starting.

The tourist company Brisco is closely associated with Metrojet. The crashed flight from Egypt to St. Petersburg, Flight 9268, was organized by a Russian tourist company called Brisco. According to Irina Tyurina, the press secretary for the Russian Travel Industry's Union, Brisco chartered the flight for its clients, though it is possible that clients from other tourist companies were on board, as well. According to Tyurina, Brisco's clients on this trip were from St. Petersburg and neighboring cities.

The offices of Metrojet and Brisco are located in the same Moscow business center. Brisco's founder, Viskhan Tabulaev, also heads Western Aviation and Investment Company, which owns Metrojet. A man named Khamit Bagan owns 44.4 percent of Western Aviation and Investment Company, and another 27.8 percent is owned by men named Amirbek Gagaev and Buvaisar Khalidov.