Yowzers: Russian Airline Has Last Minute Aircraft Swap… To A Cargo Plane!

It’s not unusual to see last minute aircraft swaps. Maybe you were scheduled to fly on a Boeing 737-800, and at the last minute, the plane is upgauged to a Boeing 737-900. However, that pales in comparison to what passengers in Russia recently experienced, when their passenger plane was swapped for a cargo plane, as flagged by aeroTELEGRAPH.

IrAero puts passenger on a cargo plane without warning

This incident happened on January 22, 2026, and involves IrAero, a Russian airline based in Siberia, which operates both passenger and cargo flights. A scheduled 535-mile service from Irkutsk (IKT) to Mama (UIKM), flight RD382, was supposed to be operated by an Antonov An-24 passenger aircraft. For those not familiar, the An-24 is a Soviet turboprop that was manufactured between 1959 and 1979, and it’s still flown by several Russian carriers.

However, upon arriving at the airport, passengers found out that they’d be flying in the cargo hold of an Antonov An-26 cargo aircraft. So they boarded and sat on folding seats along the fuselage, surrounded by cargo. A picture taken on the flight is quite something…

This incident is being blamed on Western sanctions, though that’s of course not totally fair. The plane that was taken out of service was produced in Russia (well, the Soviet Union), so it’s hard to blame Airbus or Boeing for those issues. 😉

I suspect what’s really going on here is that Russian airlines have been under immense pressure in recent years, as they’ve been unable to secure parts for their massive Airbus and Boeing fleets, causing the planes to be grounded. As a result, airlines have increasingly been relying on “local” aircraft to operate flights, with absolutely no flexibility in their schedule.

So I assume the An-24 initially scheduled to operate the flight had some sort of an issue or was needed elsewhere, so this was the next best option.

Airline & government disagree whether this violated rules

The East Siberian Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into this incident, claiming that “passengers were not informed of the change in the conditions of carriage,” and that this violated rules.

The airline, meanwhile, defends itself by explaining that “to ensure the punctuality of flight operations and avoid delays in departure or arrival, the airline reserves the right to use a different aircraft.”

Essentially, the airline claims that this An-26 can also be used as a passenger aircraft, which is where the prosecutor and airline seem to disagree. Sure, technically passengers can sit on folding seats, but is that really what passengers are agreeing to when they book a ticket?

Bottom line

Passengers who booked a scheduled flight in Siberia were in for quite a surprise, when they boarded a cargo aircraft, and were instructed to sit on folding chairs, next to cargo. This happened as IrAero swapped planes last minute, from an An-24 to an An-26.

The airline justified this by explaining that it has the right to swap aircraft. Meanwhile the government claimed that this violated the rules, especially the lack of notice about the change.

What do you make of this aircraft swap?