There is a shortage of rescue helicopters in Sverdlovsk Oblast.

      Sverdlovsk Oblast has become one of the regions where rescue services are facing a shortage of aviation equipment. Overall, a shortage of aviation rescue assets is observed at 31 of the 111 duty points approved by Rosaviatsia. They are located in Tatarstan, Voronezh, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, Chelyabinsk and other regions.

      According to Izvestia, helicopter companies are reluctant to sign contracts because the state tariffs have not changed. Airlines spend 6.3 million rubles per month to maintain aviation equipment on duty. This sum covers staff wages, fuel costs and airport fees, as well as helicopter maintenance and equipment depreciation.

      “It is difficult to fit into the current procurement budgets of the State Corporation for the Organization of Air Traffic even with Mi-8T helicopters, which have lower costs for maintaining airworthiness, lower depreciation and no lease payments. Such helicopters are usually 30–40 years old. If you operate the more modern and powerful Mi-8MTV/AMT, taken on lease or purchased outright, the cost of services will increase by 1.5–2 times,” Dmitry Zhelyazkov, deputy general director of Convers Avia Airline JSC, told the publication.

      The amounts offered in the state contracts do not cover the listed costs. Thus, in 2025 there were no airlines willing to sign state contracts to provide their fleets for rescue bases in Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Perm and Novosibirsk. In the Ural capital, bids for contracts worth 131–137 million rubles failed three times. Their holding has been postponed to 2026, the EAN publication notes.

      Earlier we reported on how EMERCOM aviation takes to the skies over Yekaterinburg.