Hunnu Air

Hunnu Air (Mongolian: Хүннү Эйр, romanized: Hünnü Eir) is a Mongolian airline that began scheduled flights in 2011. The company changed its name from Mongolian Airlines Group (Mongolian: Монголиан Аэрлайнес Групп) in April 2013 to avoid confusion with the similarly named Mongolian international flag carrier MIAT Mongolian Airlines. The company slogan is Wings of Mongolia. The name Hunnu refers to the Mongolian spelling of the Xiongnu.

Hunnu Air

IATA ICAO Call sign MR MML TRANS MONGOLIA
Founded	2011
Hubs	Chinggis Khaan International Airport
Focus cities	Baikal International Airport
Fleet size	3
Destinations	9
Parent company	Mongolyn Alt MAK LLC
Headquarters	Sükhbaatar district, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Key people	Nyamtaishir (Director of Board)
Website	hunnuair.com

History

Hunnu Air is backed by the mining company Mongolyn Alt MAK LLC and the Bodi Group. The airline was launched as Mongolian Airlines on 2 December 2011 following the acquisition of Monnis Air Services and its fleet of Antonov An-2 single-engine biplane aircraft. Confusion soon arose over the name and its similarity to that of MIAT Mongolian Airlines and in April 2013, threatened with a legal dispute and possible government intervention, the name was changed to Hunnu Air.

The airline purchased two Fokker 50 aircraft in 2011 and operated its first scheduled domestic flight (from Ulaanbaatar to Bayankhongor) on 2 January 2012. Other domestic routes were later opened from Ulaanbaatar to Mörön, Choibalsan, Khovd and Dalanzadgad. With the leasing of two Airbus A319 aircraft, delivered in January 2012, it was able to launch services to Tokyo and subsequently Bangkok, Shanghai and Hong Kong. In July 2013 a third Fokker 50 was acquired. Hunnu Air also operated charter flights to destinations such as Jeju, Hainan and Shizuoka.

Hunnu Air introduced its first long-haul direct flight from Ulaanbaatar to Paris for the summer period of 2014, with one technical stop, using an Airbus A319. The airline planned to acquire an Airbus A330 aircraft and relaunch long-haul direct flights in 2015 to include Singapore, but this never materialized due to a financial crisis. The two Airbus A319s were repossessed by their owner late in 2014.

In 2019 and 2023, it acquired two Embraer 190 aircraft.

Fleet

Current fleet

Hunnu Air Airbus A319 landing at Hong Kong International Airport

As of August 2023, the Hunnu Air fleet includes the following aircraft:

Hunnu Air fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers			Notes
			C	Y	Total
ATR 42-500	1	—	TBA
Embraer 190	2	—	6	92	98
			9	89	98
Total	3	0

Former fleet

The airline previously operated the following aircraft:

• Airbus A319-100
• Fokker 50
• ATR 72

Pandemic and post-pandemic

During the pandemic, not only Hunnu Air, but also The Mongolian Air Force came to a standstill. However, in order not to stop passenger flight operations, Hunnu Air has started to operate special duty flights to cities wherein the situation is difficult. In 2023, when Hinnu Air received its second Embraer 190 aircraft, new opportunities to operate a flights to new destinations opened up.

Incidents and accidents

An Hunnu air ATR-72-500 JU-8802 Torque and other parameters of left engine dropped suddenly in flight at altitude 22615 ft and around 70 km from ZMMN airport at 11:40UTC. Crew shut down the engine around 11:47UTC and landed Muren (ZMMN) airport.

Probable causes Based on the analysis of flight data, the results of the inspection of the HMU unit, and other related information, it is likely that the failure of the torque, ITT, Nh, Nl, Fuel flow, and other parameters on the left engine of JU-8802 aircraft during the Ulaangom-Ulaanbaatar flight on July 23, 2017, resulted from an internal malfunction of the HMU unit, which could not be rectified by adjusting the required parameters due to the internal failure of the HMU unit.