Yakovlev YAK-42D – A Gazprom Avia fairytale from Vnukovo to Pulkovo

The YAK-42 was never a common sight in Western Europe, and in Russia it’s numbers are going down drastically. Many airlines stopped their YAK-42 ops, replaced them or just went bankrupt. Until not to long ago the cheapest way of flying a YAK-42 was the flight between St. Petersbug Pulkovo and Vnukovo with Gazprom Avia. Not only are their Yaks in a wonderful condition, also the service is just as one would expect of one of the most prestige Russian companies there is, Gazprom. The flights often saw lots of transfer passengers from Russia’s Far East, making this aspect fun as well. Gazprom Avia is a rather small airline and they are quite customer oriented. In the case of this flight, a transfer from Sheremetyevo took a little longer, so the kept the aircraft waiting and handed out hand written boarding passes. Besides this great airline the aircraft itself is a wonderful flying machine. It features high bypass turbofan engines, unfortunately without reversers, but still their sound is awesome. The take off run is a joke, even with a full cabin the airliner is airborn within no time. The shallow climb and the roaring engines add to an extraordinary flying experience…