UTair Aviation traces its history directly back to the pioneering first flight from the city of Tyumen to Salekhard along the Ob route in 1934. This event marked the opening of Western Siberia for civil aviation and dramatically changed the course of history for the region. Soon after, a small squadron of planes was based at an airdrome located on the outskirts of Tyumen to provide air support operations along the northern shipping route.

The Tyumen based aviation group lead and managed operations of several subordinate units in the region, transporting passengers, mail and freight. The group also performed service flights for exploratory expeditions, medical service flights, forest patrols and crop dusting.

Following development of oil and gas deposits in the region, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Soviet Union organized the Tyumen Civil Aviation Fleet on the basis of the Ural Civil Aviation Fleet’s Tyumen Aviation Group in 1967.

The high volume of oil and gas production in the region, accompanied by underdeveloped rail and highway networks, gave rise to the rapid expansion of the social infrastructure and ground-support facilities of the Tyumen Civil Aviation Fleet. In a very short period, civil aviation became an integral part of development infrastructure of the natural resource industries in Western Siberia.

From the start, the Tyumen branch of the Civil Aviation Fleet and its airdrome bases were critical for the development of the region and national economy and their role was recognized with the receipt of the Red Banner of Labor.

In addition to civil aviation operations, the Tyumen Civil Aviation Fleet performed flight test operations for new aircraft and their efficient exploitation. State testing of the Mi-8 helicopter and operational testing of the Mi-6, Mi-10K, Mi-26 helicopters and the Il-76 jet were all conducted by the Tyumen Civil Aviation Fleet. The Fleet also initiated the large scale transportation of cargo containers on Il-76 planes and pipe packs on An-12 planes. Helicopters were used for transporting large-diameter pipes and power-line towers on external slings. Power-line towers were delivered by air to installation points. The Fleet innovated a method of aerial installation of 500 Kw power lines and a unique cable release technology for the construction of 200 Kw power lines.

The development of the Tymen Civil Aviation Fleet peaked in 1990, when 8.58 m passengers, 632.600 tons of cargo, and 20.3 tons of mail were transported through the Fleet’s airports. The Fleet and its ground infrastructure had the highest volume of industrial aviation services and freight transport in all of Russian civil aviation. In early 1991, the Fleet had over 600 aircraft of 14 types. It operated 84 airdromes, including 20 airports with paved runways.

In 1991, the airline and its regional hubs were incorporated and the Tyumen Civil Aviation Fleet became Tyumenaviatrans Airlines. As legal successor, the new company retained the existing contacts and interrelations with the Civil Aviation Authority. In 1992, by a decree of the President of Russia and a mutual agreement of the airline management, Tyumenaviatrans was reorganized into a joint-stock company, the Tyumen Aviation Transport Company "Tyumenaviatrans."

In 2001 Tyumenaviatrans won Russia’s most prestigious "Wings of Russia" award for Provision of Services to Industries of the Russian Economy.

In 2002 the airline again won “Wings of Russia” awards forProvision of Services to Industries of the Russian Economy and for Passenger Carrier in Domestic Airlines Group I.

The airline officially adopted the name UTair in 2002.

At present, the airline is one of the leading players on the Russian aviation services market and is among the four largest helicopter operators in the world.