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Whereas this aircraft flew under the Ukrainian flag only a few years ago, the Boeing 737 now frequently operates in Moscow—an unexpected detour.
A Boeing 737-800 with a long Ukrainian history is now in service with Georgian Airways and regularly flies to Moscow. The aircraft, originally delivered to Aero Svit Airlines and later operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) and Windrose Airlines, now has a Georgian registration and a new livery.
When the war in Ukraine broke out in 2022, the UR-PSF, a Boeing 737-800, was taken abroad. The aircraft, owned by Varangian Leasing, was initially stored in Spain, later in Poland, and then in Egypt. In April 2023, Windrose Airlines—a Ukrainian airline that operated from Romania after the invasion—put the aircraft into service. The UIA logo was removed, but the blue-and-yellow color scheme remained. The aircraft was temporarily used by the Moldovan airline Fly One, which applied its own branding.
No longer blue and yellow
However, in the fall of 2023, Windrose parted with the 737-800, after which Georgian Airways took over the aircraft. The Georgian airline gave it a new white-and-red livery and registered it as 4L-GTO. This marked the first time the aircraft lost its Ukrainian registration. Since its acquisition by Georgian Airways, the Boeing 737-800 has been operating from Tbilisi to two key destinations: Paris and—remarkably—Moscow. The route to the Russian capital is flown most frequently.