Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this short retro-FR I'd like to present a review of a Transaero B777-300 on Vladivostok (VVO) to Moscow Domodedovo (DME) flight, taken on 2 October 2015 (a day before the airline filed for bankruptcy). It was less than month before Transaero went bust (25.10.2015) and the airline was already agonizing with frequent delays and disruptions. Thankfully, this flight went without hiccups.
Intro
Today (25 October 2025) is exactly 10 years since a prominent Russian airline Transaero (UN) ceased its operations and went bust. UN had extremely diverse fleet that evolved over time and, in particular, pioneered in Russia B747-400s and first-gen B777-300s. Before ceasing its operations, UN even ordered some A380s (never built) and B747-8s (two were built but never delivered and were eventually sold to USAF1 for conversion to VC-25B). In its heyday UN played a role of the good counterweight to Aeroflot (SU), making Russian civil aviation very competitive.
Transaero was operating from the 3 main Moscow airports: Domodedovo (DME), Vnukovo (VKO) and Sheremetyevo (SVO) with DME being the main hub and VKO the secondary one. Operations from SVO were limited.
I flew Transaero only 4 times - in autumn 2015, when sun was already setting for the airline: VKO-VIE-VKO on two B737-700s in September and DME-VVO-DME in late September - early October on two B777-300s. This FR is devoted to the return flight from Vladivostok to Domodedovo.
After UN went bust, in 2016 Rossiya Airlines (FV), an Aeroflot's subsidiary, took over UN's most valuable aircrafts: 5 B744s and all the B773s (5 units). After 24.02.2022 these aircrafts were re-registered in Russia and currently, due to sanction and cannibalization of the part of the fleet, only 2 B744s and 2 B773s are active.
FV retains UN's layout of B773s, but the first class is marketed as "business plus", as both SU and FV are no-first-class airlines.
Please excuse me for the lack of detailed photos of the cabins and inferior quality of some photos in this FR, as I was just a beginner back in 2015.
The World's Last B777-300 Operators
B777-300 - the longest 1st-gen 777 - is a simple stretch of B777-200ER, with only difference being the longer (+10 m) fuselage (also worth noting that B773s were produced only with RR Trent 900 or PW4000 engines options, but not with 1st-gen GE90 engines, whereas B772s and B77Es were produced with all the 3 engine options). Due to higher MZFW but the same MTOW, B773 takes less fuel than B77E thus having less range, and its payload-range curve is better optimized for mid-haul flights than for long-haul ones. Thus, B773 could play a role of a high-capacity mid-haul shuttle, which was valuable for a number of East- and South-East-Asian airlines. In particular, Singapore Airlines in the past had a prominent B773 fleet, and some of these birds ended flying in Transaero and then in Rossiya Airlines.
Boeing also applied the "simple stretch" approach for its new-gen aircrafts, making B787-10 from B787-9. B78X is extremely efficient mid-haul shuttle, but is also quite efficient on 10-11 hours long-haul flights. No surprise that airlines like SQ already replaced B773s with B78Xs, and KE and NH are in process of replacement B773s by B78Xs.
1) Air Peace: 1 RR-powered unit in 2-class layout (C50_Y269, 3-3-3 Y) plus 1 RR-powered unit in 2-class layout (C54_Y310, 3-4-3 Y).
2) ANA: 5 PW-powered units in 2-class layout (C21_Y493, 3-4-3 Y), used as domestic shuttles. Will be replaced by B78Xs in domestic high-density layout.
3) Cathay Pacific: 17 RR-powered units in 2-class layout (C42_Y396, 3-4-3 Y).
4) Korean Air: 4 PW-powered units in 2-class layout (C41_Y297, 3-3-3 Y). Will be replaced by B78Xs.
5) Rossiya Airlines: 4 RR-powered units in 3-class layout (F4_C14_Y355, 3-3-3 Y, F is marketed as "C+"). Only 2 units are active. The irony is that FV B773s are the last 777s with 3-3-3 Y, based in geographical Europe, but politically Russia is now extremely far from Europe.
6) Southwind Airlines: 3 RR-powered units in single-class all-economy layout (Y550, 3-4-3 Y). The highest-density (at the very limit of exit doors capacity) B777s in the world, used as mid-haul shuttles to "sunny" destinations.
B777-300 layout in Transaero
Thankfully, some websites, like samolety.org, saved for the history some LOPAs of the UN fleet and official cabin photos from the now-long-gone UN website.
UN B773s had 3-class layout F4_C14_Y355, with the first class in 1-2-1 layout called "Imperial", business class in 2-3-2 layout with dated angle-lie (but close to lie-flat) seats (both F and C cabins were located in the front part of the plane between 1L/R and 2L/R doors) and economy class in 3-3-3 layout, consisting of 3 cabins: the front one between 2L/R and 3L/R doors having 133 seats with increased row pitch ("economy plus") and 2 regular cabins between 3L/R and 5L/R doors, having 222 seats in total with standard row pitch.
Here is the LOPA of UN B773s:
Some official photos of the "Imperial" cabin:
Some official photos of the business cabin:
Some official photos of the front economy cabin ("economy plus"):
Some official photos of the regular economy:
Vladivostok International Airport (VVO)
VVO is located quite far from the city near Artyom town, and has very limited rail connection with Vladivostok. I rode a few stations on an intercity Vladivostok - Nakhodka train to Artyom-Primorsky-1 station and then walked 3 km, having enough time to spare.
VVO has single relatively modern and compact terminal. Understandably, the number of international flights to/from VVO is extremely limited today with the most outstanding being the Air Koryo flights from Phongyang.
The Aircraft
The aircraft, operating my UN124 flight from VVO to DME, was 1998-built EI-UNL (re-registered in 2022 as RA-73279, grounded since December 2023, presumably as a source of spare parts). Originally she was the first B773 in the Singapore Airlines fleet. In November 2011 she joined Transaero fleet.
The aircraft is powered by RR Trent 892 engines - the most compact and lightweight engine option for 1st-gen B777s (the 1st-gen GE90s were the heaviest, and PW4090 were in the middle).
The Premium Cabins
On this flight I made just one peek into the very front of the plane. On this blurred low-quality photo one can see a bit of business class and a little bit of Imperial class. Knowing that this flight was the last with Transaero, I should've dared to visit first and business cabins after the flight…
The Economy Cabin
In contrast to EI-UNP, which flew me from Domodedovo to Vladivostok and had "economy plus" with orange fabric upholstery and regular economy with blue fabric upholstery, EI-UNL had dark leather upholstery in all the Y cabins (sorry for the blurry 1st photo!). Rossiya Airlines replaced the fabric upholstery in other B773s with more or less similar style, but with its own blueish touches.
The Economy Seat
I cannot identify the economy seat model, but it looks like one of the old Recaro models. Due to 3-3-3 layout the seat felt wide (I guess seatwidth was at least 18"), but the seatback is far from perfect. In EI-UNP with fabric upholstery it felt hard and uncomfortable. Surprisingly, the leather upholstery in EI-UNL improved seatback comfort, and this flight went much easier. The seat has adjustable headrest, ancient IFE with USB port, tray table and seatpocket. The row pitch is very good even in regular economy.
The IFE menu in Russian.
The Flight
Climbing out from VVO.
The flight map as we are flying paraller to Chinese border until Khabarovsk, from where the trajectory will be close to the great circle (and coinciding with then-active Trans-Siberian corridor, extensively used by foreign airlines for flying between East Asia and EU).
Before the flight I chose preferred meal type as "seafood", and it was the right choice. The meal (fish with rice) was tasty and filling, kudos to VVO catering. The crew were very nice, as on all my 4 UN flights in 2015.
Overflying mighty Lena river in Yakutia with golden larches in the taiga.
Mountains somewhere in North-East Siberia.
Inflight view of the "economy plus" cabin (sorry for the blurry photo).
Frozen lakes near New Urengoy in North-West Siberia.
A JAL B788 flying along paraller trajectory on a higher flight level. An unimaginable thing in today's Russia!
Then the second meal service came and the seafood meal was also excellent!
A "brigde" of clouds over a river somewhere in European part of Russia not long before the beginning of descent to DME.
The portside Trent 892 engine view.
UN B744s and B773s in DME. This Jumbo without an engine probably never made it back to commercial service.
Two sisterships: parked EI-UNM (re-registered to RA-73280 in 2022) and EI-XLP (re-registered to RA-73292 in 2022; parked since September 2024 - presumably for spare parts) being prepared for the flight.
We parked at a remote stand (probably UN was already unable to pay for using jetbridges in DME terminal). A view of the portside RR Trent 892 engine upon disembarkment with another UN B744 in sight.
Planespotting in DME
Some of the things of DME's bustling past, which are unimaginable in today's Russia.
Singapore Airlines luxurious B77W (with one of the world's most spacious 4-class layouts with 3-3-3 economy). Back then SQ was operating SIN-DME-IAH flights.
British Airways B744 (1999-built G-BYGB in a very-premium-heavy 4-class layout F14_C86_W30_Y145), taking off for London Heathrow (could you imagine numbers of wealthy Russian public, flying between Moscow and London back then?). A year later I flew her less premium sistership G-CIVE from LHR to MEX.
Bonus: Some Photos of the DME-VVO Flight
As a bonus to this FR, I'd like to show some photos from the preceding DME-VVO flight, which was operated by sistership EI-UNP (the 2nd B773 in SQ fleet in her 1st life; from 2022 re-registered as RA-73282).
A view of the "economy plus" with original orange fabric UN upholstery.
A view of the regular economy with original blue fabric UN upholstery.
A couple of IFE screenshots inflight.
The "seafood" meal options from DME catering was inferior compared to the one from VVO catering. I should've chosed standard meal for this flight.
The lavatory.
Spectacular engine views over Siberia at sunrise.
Portside engine view in daylight.
Starboard engine view in VVO.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
