RusLine: The Small Russian Regional Airline Flying from Vnukovo to the Provinces

The fleet

RusLine's historic fleet is based on Bombardier CRJ100s and CRJ200s, regional aircraft of about fifty seats designed for low-demand routes. Western sanctions after 2022 have complicated the supply of spare parts for these Canadian-built aircraft, a problem common to several Russian operators of Western jets, and it is not always possible to verify with certainty how many are actually operational today.

History and positioning

The technical leap came in February 2008, when RusLine introduced the first Bombardier CRJ100 in its history, becoming one of the first Russian airlines to operate a Western regional jet on domestic routes. In 2010 it took over the assets and brand of the failed competitor Air Volga, including six Bombardier CRJ200s, thereby consolidating its presence in the short-haul regional flight segment. Since then the airline has remained a niche operator, far from the big national carriers such as Aeroflot or S7, focused on routes that others don't cover.

Routes and network

Most of the operation links Moscow-Vnukovo to Russian provincial cities, with secondary bases in Saint Petersburg, Ulan-Ude, Voronezh and Yekaterinburg. Routes are often suspended and reactivated depending on seasonal demand: during 2026, for example, RusLine re-announced links such as Yaroslavl-Perm and Naryan-Mar-Arkhangelsk after periods of suspension. It is a flexible but hard-to-predict operating model for anyone planning a trip far in advance.

What passengers say

Not being an international airline, RusLine does not appear in the main Western review indexes such as Skytrax or Trustpilot with a significant volume of ratings. The information available therefore remains partial: those who book a RusLine flight do so more because there is no alternative on a specific regional route than because of a direct service comparison with other carriers.

RusLine may be the only sensible option for those who need to reach a Russian provincial city not covered by Aeroflot or other major carriers, while it is not meant for those looking for a reliable network of connections or multilingual customer service. Anyone booking should check the route's status close to departure, since minor links are suspended and reactivated with some frequency.