Aeroflot
Encyclopedia
OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier
and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year. Aeroflot operates domestic and international passenger services covering a network of 97 cities in 48 countries, mainly from its hub
at Sheremetyevo International Airport
.
Headquartered in Arbat District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow
, Aeroflot is one of the oldest airlines in the world, tracing its history back to 1923. In 1956, it became the first airline to successfully operate regular jet airliner services with the Tupolev Tu-104
.
During the Soviet
era, Aeroflot was the Soviet national airline and the largest airline in the world. Following the dissolution of the USSR
, Aeroflot has been transformed from a state-run enterprise into a semi-privatised airline which ranks amongst the most profitable in the world. Aeroflot is still considered the de facto national airline of Russia. It is 51%-owned by the Russian Government, . The company completely owns Donavia
since early 2007, when it boosted its participation in the Rostov-on-Don
–based airline from 51% to 100%.
Aeroflot has embarked on a fleet modernisation program, extensive route restructuring, and an image overhaul. The airline joined SkyTeam
in April 2006, becoming the 10th member of the alliance
.
On 17 January 1921, the Sovnarkom of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
published "About Air Transportation". The document which was signed by Vladimir Lenin
set out the basic regulations on air transport over the territory of the RSFSR. The document was significant as it was the first time that a Russian state had declared sovereignty over its airspace
. In addition, the document defined rules for the operation of foreign aircraft over the Soviet Union's airspace and territory. After Lenin issued an order, a State Commission was formed on 31 January 1921 for the purpose of civil aviation planning in the Soviet Union. As a result of the commission's plans, Glavvozdukhflot (Chief Administration of the Civil Air Fleet) was established, and it began mail and passenger flights on the Moscow
-Oryol
-Kursk
-Kharkov route on 1 May 1921 using Sikorsky Ilya Muromets
aircraft. This was followed by the formation of Deruluft-Deutsch Russische Luftverkehrs A.G.
in Berlin
on 11 November 1921, as a joint venture
between the Soviet Union and Germany
. The company, whose aircraft were registered in both Germany and the Soviet Union, began operations on 1 May 1922 with a Fokker F.III
flying between Königsberg
and Moscow
. The service was initially operated twice a week and restricted to the carriage of mail.
On 3 February 1923 Sovnarkom approved plans for the expansion of the Red Air Fleet, and it is this date which was officially recognised as the beginning of civil aviation
in the Soviet Union. After a resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
, the Enterprise for Friends of the Air Fleet (ODVF) was founded on 8 March 1923, followed by the formation of Dobrolet
on 17 March 1923. Regular flights by Dobrolet from Moscow
to Nizhniy Novgorod commenced on 15 July 1923. During the same period, an additional two airline
s were established; Zakavia
being based in Tiflis, and Ukrvozdukhput
based in Kharkov. During 1923 an agreement was signed establishing a subdivision of Dobrolet to be based in Tashkent
, which would operate to points in Soviet Central Asia
. Services between Tashkent and Alma Ata began on 27 April 1924, and by the end of 1924 the subdivision had carried 480 passengers and 500 kilograms (1,102.3 lb) of mail and freight, on a total of 210 flights. In March 1924, Dobrolet began operating flights from Sevastopol
to Yalta
and Yevpatoriya in the Crimea
. Dobrolet's route network was extended during the 1925-1927 period to include Kazan
and regular flights between Moscow and Kharkov were inaugurated. Plans were made for Dobrolet flights to Kharkov to connect with Ukrvozdukhput services to Kiev
, Odessa
and Rostov-on-Don
. During 1925, Dobrolet operated 2,000 flights over a distance of 1000000 kilometres (621,372.7 mi), carrying 14,000 passengers and 127500 kilograms (281,089.4 lb) of freight, on a route network extending to some 5000 kilometres (3,106.9 mi). Dobrolet was transformed from a Russian to an all-Union enterprise on 21 September 1926 as a result of Sovnarkom resolutions, and in 1928 Dobrolet was merged with Ukrvozdukhput; the latter having merged with Zakavia in 1925.
Responsibility for all civil aviation activities in the Soviet Union came under the control of the Chief Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet on 25 February 1932, and on 25 March 1932 the name "Aeroflot" was officially adopted for the entire Soviet Civil Air Fleet. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Congress in 1933 set out development plans for the civil aviation industry for the following five years, which would see air transportation becoming one of the primary means of transportation in the Soviet Union, linking all major cities. The government also implemented plans to expand the Soviet aircraft industry to make it less dependent on foreign built aircraft; in 1930 some fifty percent of aircraft flying services in the Soviet Union were of foreign manufacture.
Expansion of air routes which had taken shape in the late 1920s, continued into the 1930s. Local (MVL) services were greatly expanded in Soviet Central Asia and the Soviet Far East, which by the end of the second Five-Year Plan
in 1937 was 35000 kilometres (21,748 mi) in length out of a total network of some 93300 kilometres (57,974.1 mi). The agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany relating to Deruluft expired on 1 January 1937, and wasn't renewed, which saw the joint venture carrier ceasing operations on 1 April 1937. On that date Aeroflot began operations on the Moscow to Stockholm
route, and began operating the ex-Derufult route from Leningrad
to Riga
utilising Douglas DC-3
s and Tupolev ANT-35s (PS-35s). Flights from Moscow to Berlin, via Königsberg, were suspended until 1940, when they were restarted by Aeroflot and Lufthansa
as a result of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
, and would continue until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941.
Under the third Five-Year Plan, which began in 1938, civil aviation development continued, with improvements to airport installations being made and construction of airports being commenced. In addition to the expansion of services between the Soviet Union's main cities, local routes (MVL) were also expanded, and by 1940, some 337 MVL routes saw operations on a scheduled basis. Serial production of the PS-84 (licence-built DC-3s) commenced in 1939, and the aircraft became the backbone of Aeroflot's fleet on mainline trunk routes. When the Soviet Union was invaded
by Nazi Germany
on 22 June 1941, the following day the Sovnarkom placed the Civil Air Fleet under the control of Narkomat, leading to the full-scale mobilisation of Aeroflot crews and technicians for the Soviet war effort. Prior to the invasion, the Aeroflot network extended over some 146000 kilometres (90,720.4 mi), and amongst the longest routes being operated from Moscow were those to Tbilisi
(via Baku
), Tashkent and Vladivostok
. Aeroflot aircraft, including PS-35s and PS-43s, were based at Moscow's Central Airport, and amongst important missions undertaken by Aeroflot aircraft and crews included flying supplies to the besieged cities of Leningrad, Kiev, Odessa and Sevastopol. During the Battle of Stalingrad
, between August 1942 and February 1943, Aeroflot operated 46,000 missions to Stalingrad, ferrying in 2587 tonnes (5,703,358.7 lb) of supplies and some 30,000 troops. Following the defeat of the Wehrmacht
, some 80 Junkers Ju-52/3Ms were captured from the Germans, and were placed into the service of the Civil Air Fleet, and after the war were placed into regular service across the Soviet Union. Whilst civil operations in European Russia
west of the front line, which ran from Leningrad
to Moscow to Rostov-on-Don
, were prevented from operating because of the war, services from Moscow to the Urals, Siberia
, Central Asia
, and other regions which were not affected by the war, continued. By the end of the war, Aeroflot had flown 1,595,943 special missions, including 83,782 at night, and carried 1,538,982 men and 122027 tonnes (269,023,484.7 lb) of cargo.
At the end of the war, the Soviet government
went about repairing and rebuilding essential airport infrastructure, and it strengthened the Aeroflot units in the European part of the Soviet Union. Aeroflot had by the end of 1945 carried 537,000 passengers, compared with 359,000 in 1940. The government made it a priority in the immediate postwar years to expand services from Moscow to the capital of the Union republics
, in addition to important industrial centres around the country. To enable this, the government transferred to Aeroflot a large number of Li-2s
, and they would become the backbone of the fleet.
The Ilyushin Il-12
entered service on Aeroflot's all-Union scheduled routes on 22 August 1947, and supplemented already existing Li-2 services. The original Ilyushin Il-18 entered service around the same time as the Il-12, and was operated on routes from Moscow to Yakutsk
, Khabarovsk
, Vladivostok, Alma Ata, Tashkent, Sochi
, Mineralnye Vody
and Tbilisi. By 1950 the Il-18 was withdrawn from service, being replaced by Il-12s. MVL and general aviation
services received a boost in March 1948, when the first Antonov An-2
s were delivered and entered service in Central Russia. Development of MVL services over latter years was attributed to the An-2, which was operated by Aeroflot in all areas of the Soviet Union.
Aeroflot's route network had extended to 295400 kilometres (183,553.5 mi) by 1950, and it carried 1,603,700 passengers, 151070 tonnes (333,052,339.5 lb) of freight and 30580 tonnes (67,417,359.8 lb) of mail during the same year. Night flights began in the same year, and the 5th Five-Year Plan, covering the period 1951-1955, emphasised Aeroflot expanding night-time operations, which vastly improved aircraft utilisation. By 1952, some 700 destinations around the Soviet Union received regular flights from Aeroflot. On 30 November 1954, the Ilyushin Il-14
entered service, and the aircraft took a leading role in the operation of Aerofclot's all-Union services. The number of passengers carried in 1955 increased to 2,500,000, whilst freight and mail carriage also increased, to 194,960 and 63,760 tons, respectively. By this time, Aeroflot's route network covered a distance of some 321500 kilometres (199,771.3 mi).
The 20th Communist Party Congress, held in 1956, saw plans for Aeroflot services to be dramatically increased. The airline would see its overall activities increased from its then current levels by 3.8 times, and it was set the target of the carriage of 16,000,000 passengers by 1960. In order to meet these goals, Aeroflot introduced higher capacity turbojet and turbine-prop aircraft on key domestic routes, and on services to Aeroflot destinations abroad. A major step for Aeroflot occurred on 15 September 1956 when the Tupolev Tu-104
jet airliner
entered service on the Moscow-Omsk
-Irkutsk
route, marking the world's first sustained jet airline service. The airline began international flights with the type on 12 October 1956 under the command of Boris Bugayev with flights from Moscow to Prague
. The aircraft placed Aeroflot in an envious position, as airlines in the West had operated throughout the 1950s with large piston-engined aircraft. By 1958 the route network covered 349200 kilometres (216,983.4 mi), and the airline carried 8,231,500 passengers, and 445,600 tons of mail and freight, with fifteen percent of all-Union services being operated by jet aircraft.
Aeroflot introduced the Antonov An-10
and Ilyushin Il-18
in 1959, and together with its existing jet aircraft, the airline was able to extend services on modern aircraft to twenty one cities during 1960. The Tupolev Tu-114
, then the world's largest airliner, entered service with the Soviet carrier on 24 April 1961 on the Moscow-Khabarovsk
route; covering a distance of 6980 kilometres (4,337.2 mi) in 8 hours 20 minutes. The expansion of the Aeroflot fleet saw services with modern aircraft being extended to forty one cities in 1961, with fifty percent of all-Union services being operated by these aircraft. This fleet expansion also saw the number of passengers carried in 1961 skyrocketing to 21,800,000.
Further expansion came in 1962 when both the Tupolev Tu-124
and Antonov An-24
entered regular service with Aeroflot on various medium and short-haul routes. By 1964, Aeroflot operated direct flights from Moscow to 100 cities, from Leningrad to 44 cities, and from Kiev to 38 cities. The airline also operated direct flights from Mineralnyie Vody to 48 cities across the Soviet Union, denoting the importance of the operation of holiday aircraft services to Aeroflot. Statistics for the same year showed Aerfolot operating an all-Union route network extending over 400000 kilometres (248,549.1 mi), and carrying 36,800,000 passengers.
By 1966 Aeroflot carried 47,200,000 passengers over a domestic route network of 474600 kilometres (294,903.5 mi). For the period of the 8th Five-Year Plan, which ran from 1966-1970, Aeroflot carried a total of 302,200,000 passengers, 6.47 billion tons of freight and 1.63 billion tons of mail. During the Five-Year Plan period, all-Union services were extended over an additional 350 routes; an additional 1,000 MVL routes were begun, and 40 new routes were opened up with all-cargo flights. The year 1967 saw the introduction into service of the Ilyushin Il-62
and Tupolev Tu-134
, and in September 1968 the Yakovlev Yak-40
regional jet
began operations on short-haul services. By 1970, the last year of the Five-Year Plan period, Aeroflot was operating flights to over 3,500 destinations in the Soviet Union, and at the height of the 1970 summer holidays season, the airline was carrying approximately 400,000 passengers per day, and some ninety percent of passengers were being carried on propeller-turbine and jet aircraft.
in Ireland as an intermediate stop, as it was the westernmost non-NATO airport in Europe.
Aeroflot service between the Soviet Union and the United States was interrupted from 15 September 1983 until 2 August 1990, following an executive order by President Ronald Reagan
, revoking the airline's license to operate flights into and out of the United States. The reason for the order was the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by Soviet Air Force. At the start of the 1990s Aeroflot reorganised again giving more autonomy to territorial divisions. By 1992, REG Davies, former curator of the Smithsonian Institution
, claims that by 1992 Aeroflot had over 600,000 people operating over 10,000 aircraft. By 1967, Aeroflot amassed a fleet equal to that of the largest American carriers combined.
In 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
, Aeroflot was divided into more than 300 regional airlines. International routes were operated separately as Aeroflot – Russian International Airlines (ARIA). Some airline companies which were created from the old Aeroflot are now flag carriers of the newly independent countries – for example, Uzbekistan Airways, Air Moldova
and Lithuanian Airlines. Smaller regional airlines which emerged out of the old Aeroflot – sometimes just one-plane operations – were sometimes referred to as Babyflot
s.
In 1994 Aeroflot was registered as a joint stock company
and the government sold off 49% of its stake to Aeroflot employees. During the 1990s, Aeroflot was primarily focused on international flights from Moscow. However, by the end of the decade Aeroflot started an expansion in the domestic market. In 2000 the company name was changed to Aeroflot – Russian Airlines to reflect the change in the company strategy.
, crop-dusting, heavy lifting for the Soviet Space Agency (see Soviet Space Programme
), offshore oil platform support, exploration for natural resources, support for construction projects, transport of military troops and supplies (as an adjunct to the Soviet Air Force
), atmospheric research, and remote area patrol. It operated hundreds of helicopters and cargo aircraft in addition to civil airliners. It also operated the Soviet equivalent of a presidential aircraft and other VIP transports of government and communist party
officials.
Aeroflot was also responsible for such services as ice patrol in the Arctic Ocean and escorting of ships through frozen seas, oil exploration, power line surveillance, and transportation and heavy lifting support on construction projects. For the latter tasks, Aeroflot used, in addition to smaller helicopters, the Mi-10 flying crane capable of lifting 11,000 to 14,000 kilograms. Hauling of heavy cargo, including vehicles, was performed by the world's largest operational helicopter, the Mi-26. Its unusual eight-blade rotor enabled it to lift a maximum payload of some twenty tons.
The close relationship between Aeroflot and the Soviet armed forces was underscored by the fact that the minister of civil aviation has been a high-ranking general or marshal of the Air Forces. Most Aeroflot pilots held reserve commissions in the Air Forces. The medium- and long-range passenger and cargo aircraft of Aeroflot were also part of the strategic air transport reserve, ready to provide immediate airlift support to the armed forces. Indeed, many aircraft in Aeroflot's inventory were of the same basic design as military aircraft and, even when loaded with bulky cargo and vehicles, were capable of operating from unimproved fields. They were characterized by high wings, low fuselages with cargo/vehicle loading ramps, and landing gear suitable for unimproved or marshy terrain. Short-range airplanes and helicopters were available for appropriate military support missions. Civil aviation also served as a cover for military operations. According to a Western authority, military aircraft belonging to the Military Transport Aviation (Voennaia transportnaia aviatsiia) have been painted in Aeroflot colors for use as food relief and arms or personnel transports to foreign countries.
In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union underwent massive political upheavals, culminating in the dissolution of the country
. Countries declared their independence during January 1990–December 1991, resulting in the establishment of 15 republics
. Up until this time, Aeroflot had been the only establishment providing air services throughout the CIS
; with the breakup of the Soviet Union, Aeroflot branches of these countries began their own services, and the airline itself came under control of Russia, the largest of the CIS republics, and was renamed AeroflotRussian International Airlines.
Since the dissolution, Aeroflot has been actively working towards promoting and redefining itself as a safe and reliable airline. In the early 2000s
, the airline hired British consultants for rebranding. From the start, plans were afoot to replace the old Soviet-era hammer and sickle
logo, which some people in the West treated as a reminder of the Soviet communism; despite this the logo was not scrapped, as it was the most recognizable symbol of the company for over 70 years. A new livery
and uniforms for flight attendants were designed and a promotional campaign launched in 2003. It carried 5.9 million passengers in 2003.
Its fleet has undergone a major reorganisation during which most of the Soviet aircraft were replaced by more reliable Western jets such as A320/A319
for short-haul flights in Europe and Boeing 767
and Airbus A330
for long-haul routes. In the spring of 2004 an expansion on the domestic market was undertaken, aiming to gain 30% share by 2010 (as of 2006 it held approximately 9%). The first task was to outperform S7 Airlines
, a major rival and the leader in the domestic market. On 29 July 2004 a new corporate slogan was adopted: "Sincerely Yours. Aeroflot".
. and occupied all of terminal 3 at Sheremetyevo International Airport
in 2009. The company has announced its plan to increase cargo operations. It registered the "Aeroflot-Cargo
" trademark in 2006. During that year Aeroflot carried 7,290,000 passengers and 145,300 tons of mail and cargo to 89 destinations in 47 countries. It saw improvements in its earnings and number of passengers carried. The net profit
reached $309.4 million (RUB 7.98 billion) in 2006, a 32.3% increase from 2005 earnings of only $234 million (RUB6.03 billion). The revenue for the same 2005–2006 period rose by 13.5% to reach $2.77 billion with an 8.7% gain in passenger numbers.
The airline is owned (as of March 2007) by the Russian Government via Rosimushchestvo
(51.17%), National Reserve Corporation (27%) and employees and others (19%) and has 14,900 employees.
In , the Russian government announced that all regional airlines owned by the state through the holding company Rostechnologii would be consolidated with the national carrier Aeroflot in order to increase the airlines' financial viability. The merger was completed in late ; in a deal worth million, Aeroflot's sister company Aeroflot-Finance became the major shareholder of Vladivostok Avia
, Saravia and Rossiya Airlines, and the sole shareholder of both SAT Airlines
and Orenair.
to 49 countries, serving 97 destinations.
, Aeroflot has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
* SkyTeam member
aircraft on the Moscow–New York route. The company now flies six aircraft of the type – about one half of all Il-96s in commercial service worldwide – and promised to buy six more if the Russian State allowed it not to pay import duty on Western-built aircraft. Industry experts claim the company is trying to terminate the deal with Ilyushin as operating the Il-96 is not cost-effective.
In 2006 it leased three used Boeing 767-300ER
from ILFC for 5 years. The first two aircraft were delivered in November 2006 and January 2007, the third one was delivered in March 2007. The company had previously leased two Boeing 767-300ER from ILFC.
As of 2007, Aeroflot is in the midst of an overhaul of its fleet structure. The aging Tupolev Tu-134s used on the short- and mid-haul routes were phased out by 2008 and were replaced by the Sukhoi Superjet 100
in 2011.
For long-haul routes the company has ordered the Airbus A330
, the Airbus A350
and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
On 22 March 2007, Aeroflot signed an agreement with Airbus for the acquisition of 22 Airbus A350-800/900
s, with deliveries starting in 2015.
Aeroflot and Boeing signed a deal for the 22 Dreamliners on the sidelines of Saint Petersburg
International Economic Forum, with deliveries starting in 2014. Aeroflot's CEO Okulov confirmed that the existing Airbus order "would not be affected".
In May 2007, Finnair
has announced the sale of its last two self-owned MD-11
s to Aeroflot which are thus to become part of the Russian airline cargo fleet in 2008 and 2009.
Matters came to a head in September 2006 as Aeroflot's Board of Directors convened to vote on the Boeing contract. This coincided with the USA imposing sanctions on various Russian companies (including a major aircraft maker, Sukhoi
) for allegedly supplying Iran
in violation of the US's Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000
and with the Russian state-owned Vneshtorgbank
buying 5% of the stock in EADS
, the corporation behind Airbus. The State's representatives on the board abstained from the vote and another round of lobbying ensued, with Russian news sources reporting Aeroflot's efforts to placate the State by offering to order both 22 Boeing 787s and 22 Airbus 350s, effectively doubling its long-range fleet. Banker Alexander Lebedev
, the man behind National Reserve Corporation, reached a deal with Boeing to prolong the deadline, using his corporation's money.
Ten Airbus A330
s —five A330-200s and five A330-300s— had also been ordered, scheduled to arrive on operating lease starting in late 2008. Despite these aircraft were initially aimed at providing interim capacity ahead of the arrival of both the Airbus A350
s and the Boeing 787
s the company had previously ordered, the type has been gradually incorporated to the fleet on a long-term basis. The first Airbus A330-200 effectively entered the fleet in late 2008, and was initially put into service on the Moscow–St. Petersburg route for testing purposes.
In July 2010, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin
pressured Aeroflot to buy Russian-made aircraft
for future expansion and fleet renewal. On 1 September 2010, Aeroflot announced that it had plans to order a total of 126 Russian-built aircraft by 2020. The aircraft to be purchased are Irkut MS-21s, Sukhoi Superjet 100
s, Antonov An-140
s, and Antonov An-148
s. The aircraft are to be used for fleet replacement in Aeroflot, as well as six other airlines of which Aeroflot is taking control.
, Ilyushin
, and Tupolev
. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution and subsequent partition of the airline, Aeroflot has begun to replace its old Soviet aircraft with Western models.
, the Aeroflot fleet includes the following aircraft:
, the Aeroflot board announced on 7 May 2009 that the cargo division of the company was no longer profitable and that the company was considering its liquidation through bankruptcy.
The board announced a 30% fall in freight.
. Soviet-made, modified versions of this airliner were named the PS-84 and the Lisunov Li-2
. The first to be produced in the Soviet Union was completed in 1939. The Li-2 would be replaced by the Ilyushin Il-12
, which entered service in 1947, and the Ilyushin Il-14
, which entered service in 1954. Aeroflot also operated large numbers of the Antonov An-2
STOL biplane (first flying in 1947), in passenger and cargo roles. The An-2 remained in service until the 1980s.
On 15 September 1956 Aeroflot began to operate the Tupolev Tu-104
, the USSR's first jet airliner in regular service. The first passenger-carrying flight was from Moscow to Irkutsk, Russia
. The first international route was Moscow–Prague
, Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia
). In 1962 Aeroflot began operating the Tupolev Tu-124
, the smaller version of the Tu-104, on regional routes. These were later replaced by the Tupolev Tu-134
, which entered service in 1967. Upgraded versions of the Tu-134 still make up much of the Russian regional fleet today.
The Tupolev Tu-114
, originally used to transport Soviet leaders and once the world's largest commercial aircraft, came into service on on the Moscow-Vnukovo
–Khabarovsk
route. It also served international routes, such as Moscow–Tokyo
in conjunction with Japan Airlines
, as well as the Moscow–Havana
route, the airline's longest non-stop service at that time, which started on .
The first Ilyushin Il-62
long-range four-engined airliner entered service with Aeroflot in 1967, with an inaugural flight from Moscow to Montreal
on 15 September. It was complemented, in 1972, by medium-range Tupolev Tu-154
. This jet is the most popular Russian airliner, with more than 1,000 made. The latest modification, Tu-154M, still operates on Russian domestic routes.
On 1 November 1977 Aeroflot started to use the Tupolev Tu-144
, the world's first civil supersonic aircraft, on its regular route from Moscow (Domodedovo International Airport
) to Alma-Ata (now Almaty
, Kazakhstan). The flights with a range of 3,260 km were performed at an altitude of 16,000- 17,000 m and at a speed of 2300 km/h (1,429.2 mph). The capacity did not exceed 80 persons. This service was performed once a week until the end of service in June 1978 when it was suspended from passenger service. 55 flights were executed and 3,284 passengers were carried.
In 1980 the Ilyushin Il-86
, the first Russian-made wide-body aircraft, joined the fleet, reaching a total of 11. These were phased out by the end of 2006.
The first Western-made aircraft, the Airbus A310
, was acquired in 1992. The company also became a Boeing
customer, acquiring new Boeing 767
jets in 1994. Since then Aeroflot has also operated Boeing 737
s, Airbus A320
s, and the cargo version of the Douglas DC-10s
.
From 1998 to 2005, Aeroflot leased two Boeing 777
s, using the type on routes to the USA.
On , Aeroflot retired the last Tupolev Tu-134
after 40 years in service; the last flight serviced the Kaliningrad
–Moscow route. Aeroflot was forced to withdraw these aircraft from service due to noise restrictions. Fourteen airplanes comprised the type's fleet by that time; they were offered for sale to the sister companies.
The retirement of the last Tupolev Tu-154
occurred on , after 40 years of service. The last flight the type operated was the Yekaterinburg
-Moscow, taking place on .
Aeroflot uses Aeroflot Bonus as their frequent-flyer program. It has three levels:
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year. Aeroflot operates domestic and international passenger services covering a network of 97 cities in 48 countries, mainly from its hub
Airline hub
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...
at Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport , is an international airport located in the Moscow Oblast, Russia, north-west of central Moscow. It is a hub for the passenger operations of the Russian international airline Aeroflot, and one of the three major airports serving Moscow along with Domodedovo...
.
Headquartered in Arbat District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Aeroflot is one of the oldest airlines in the world, tracing its history back to 1923. In 1956, it became the first airline to successfully operate regular jet airliner services with the Tupolev Tu-104
Tupolev Tu-104
The Tupolev Tu-104 was a twin-engined medium-range turbojet-powered Soviet airliner and the world's first successful jet airliner...
.
During the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
era, Aeroflot was the Soviet national airline and the largest airline in the world. Following the dissolution of the USSR
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
, Aeroflot has been transformed from a state-run enterprise into a semi-privatised airline which ranks amongst the most profitable in the world. Aeroflot is still considered the de facto national airline of Russia. It is 51%-owned by the Russian Government, . The company completely owns Donavia
Donavia
JSC "Donavia" , formerly Aeroflot-Don is an airline based in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. It operates scheduled domestic and international passenger flights network as well as passenger and cargo charters, most of which to the Middle East...
since early 2007, when it boosted its participation in the Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
–based airline from 51% to 100%.
Aeroflot has embarked on a fleet modernisation program, extensive route restructuring, and an image overhaul. The airline joined SkyTeam
SkyTeam
SkyTeam, branded as SKYTEAM, is an airline alliance with its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands...
in April 2006, becoming the 10th member of the alliance
Airline alliance
An airline alliance is an agreement between two or more airlines to cooperate on a substantial level. The three largest passenger alliances are the Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld. Alliances also form between cargo airlines, such as that of WOW Alliance, SkyTeam Cargo and ANA/UPS Alliance...
.
Early history of Soviet civil aviation
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
published "About Air Transportation". The document which was signed by Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
set out the basic regulations on air transport over the territory of the RSFSR. The document was significant as it was the first time that a Russian state had declared sovereignty over its airspace
Airspace
Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
. In addition, the document defined rules for the operation of foreign aircraft over the Soviet Union's airspace and territory. After Lenin issued an order, a State Commission was formed on 31 January 1921 for the purpose of civil aviation planning in the Soviet Union. As a result of the commission's plans, Glavvozdukhflot (Chief Administration of the Civil Air Fleet) was established, and it began mail and passenger flights on the Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
-Oryol
Oryol
Oryol or Orel is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow...
-Kursk
Kursk
Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was site of a turning point in the Russian-German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history...
-Kharkov route on 1 May 1921 using Sikorsky Ilya Muromets
Sikorsky Ilya Muromets
The Ilya Muromets refers to a class of Russian pre-World War I large four-engine commercial airliners and heavy military bombing aircraft used during World War I by the Russian Empire. The aircraft series was named after Ilya Muromets, a hero from Russian mythology...
aircraft. This was followed by the formation of Deruluft-Deutsch Russische Luftverkehrs A.G.
Deruluft
Deruluft was a joint Soviet-German airline, established on 24 November 1921. Deruluft opened its first service to Moscow from Königsberg on 1 May 1922...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on 11 November 1921, as a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
between the Soviet Union and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The company, whose aircraft were registered in both Germany and the Soviet Union, began operations on 1 May 1922 with a Fokker F.III
Fokker F.III
-Bibliography:* de Leeuw, Rene. Fokker Commercial Aircraft: From the F. I of 1918 Up to the Fokker 100 of Today .* Weyl, A.R. Fokker: The Creative Years. London: Putnam, 1965. ISBN 0-85177-817-8....
flying between Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. The service was initially operated twice a week and restricted to the carriage of mail.
On 3 February 1923 Sovnarkom approved plans for the expansion of the Red Air Fleet, and it is this date which was officially recognised as the beginning of civil aviation
Civil aviation
Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work together to establish common standards and recommended practices...
in the Soviet Union. After a resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
, the Enterprise for Friends of the Air Fleet (ODVF) was founded on 8 March 1923, followed by the formation of Dobrolet
Dobrolyot
Dobrolyot, or sometimes Dobrolet, is an initialism for , an early Soviet Union air transport organisation, which was formed in 1923 and existed throughout the remainder of 1920s...
on 17 March 1923. Regular flights by Dobrolet from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to Nizhniy Novgorod commenced on 15 July 1923. During the same period, an additional two airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
s were established; Zakavia
Zakavia
Zakavia was an airline in Georgia formed in 1923 and ceased in 1925....
being based in Tiflis, and Ukrvozdukhput
Ukrvozdukhput
Ukrvozdukhput was an airline based in Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR during the interbellum. It operated scheduled domestic services.-History:...
based in Kharkov. During 1923 an agreement was signed establishing a subdivision of Dobrolet to be based in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, which would operate to points in Soviet Central Asia
Soviet Central Asia
Soviet Central Asia refers to the section of Central Asia formerly controlled by the Soviet Union, as well as the time period of Soviet administration . In terms of area, it is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan, the name for the region during the Russian Empire...
. Services between Tashkent and Alma Ata began on 27 April 1924, and by the end of 1924 the subdivision had carried 480 passengers and 500 kilograms (1,102.3 lb) of mail and freight, on a total of 210 flights. In March 1924, Dobrolet began operating flights from Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
to Yalta
Yalta
Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...
and Yevpatoriya in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. Dobrolet's route network was extended during the 1925-1927 period to include Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
and regular flights between Moscow and Kharkov were inaugurated. Plans were made for Dobrolet flights to Kharkov to connect with Ukrvozdukhput services to Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
and Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
. During 1925, Dobrolet operated 2,000 flights over a distance of 1000000 kilometres (621,372.7 mi), carrying 14,000 passengers and 127500 kilograms (281,089.4 lb) of freight, on a route network extending to some 5000 kilometres (3,106.9 mi). Dobrolet was transformed from a Russian to an all-Union enterprise on 21 September 1926 as a result of Sovnarkom resolutions, and in 1928 Dobrolet was merged with Ukrvozdukhput; the latter having merged with Zakavia in 1925.
Formative years
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
Congress in 1933 set out development plans for the civil aviation industry for the following five years, which would see air transportation becoming one of the primary means of transportation in the Soviet Union, linking all major cities. The government also implemented plans to expand the Soviet aircraft industry to make it less dependent on foreign built aircraft; in 1930 some fifty percent of aircraft flying services in the Soviet Union were of foreign manufacture.
Expansion of air routes which had taken shape in the late 1920s, continued into the 1930s. Local (MVL) services were greatly expanded in Soviet Central Asia and the Soviet Far East, which by the end of the second Five-Year Plan
Five-Year Plan
Five-Year Plan may refer to:*Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union*Five-Year Plans of Argentina*Five-Year Plans of Bhutan*Five-Year Plans of the People's Republic of China*Five-Year Plans of Cuba*Five-year plans of Ethiopia...
in 1937 was 35000 kilometres (21,748 mi) in length out of a total network of some 93300 kilometres (57,974.1 mi). The agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany relating to Deruluft expired on 1 January 1937, and wasn't renewed, which saw the joint venture carrier ceasing operations on 1 April 1937. On that date Aeroflot began operations on the Moscow to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
route, and began operating the ex-Derufult route from Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
to Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
utilising Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
s and Tupolev ANT-35s (PS-35s). Flights from Moscow to Berlin, via Königsberg, were suspended until 1940, when they were restarted by Aeroflot and Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
as a result of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, and would continue until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941.
Under the third Five-Year Plan, which began in 1938, civil aviation development continued, with improvements to airport installations being made and construction of airports being commenced. In addition to the expansion of services between the Soviet Union's main cities, local routes (MVL) were also expanded, and by 1940, some 337 MVL routes saw operations on a scheduled basis. Serial production of the PS-84 (licence-built DC-3s) commenced in 1939, and the aircraft became the backbone of Aeroflot's fleet on mainline trunk routes. When the Soviet Union was invaded
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
on 22 June 1941, the following day the Sovnarkom placed the Civil Air Fleet under the control of Narkomat, leading to the full-scale mobilisation of Aeroflot crews and technicians for the Soviet war effort. Prior to the invasion, the Aeroflot network extended over some 146000 kilometres (90,720.4 mi), and amongst the longest routes being operated from Moscow were those to Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
(via Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
), Tashkent and Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
. Aeroflot aircraft, including PS-35s and PS-43s, were based at Moscow's Central Airport, and amongst important missions undertaken by Aeroflot aircraft and crews included flying supplies to the besieged cities of Leningrad, Kiev, Odessa and Sevastopol. During the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
, between August 1942 and February 1943, Aeroflot operated 46,000 missions to Stalingrad, ferrying in 2587 tonnes (5,703,358.7 lb) of supplies and some 30,000 troops. Following the defeat of the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, some 80 Junkers Ju-52/3Ms were captured from the Germans, and were placed into the service of the Civil Air Fleet, and after the war were placed into regular service across the Soviet Union. Whilst civil operations in European Russia
European Russia
European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...
west of the front line, which ran from Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
to Moscow to Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don
-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
, were prevented from operating because of the war, services from Moscow to the Urals, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, and other regions which were not affected by the war, continued. By the end of the war, Aeroflot had flown 1,595,943 special missions, including 83,782 at night, and carried 1,538,982 men and 122027 tonnes (269,023,484.7 lb) of cargo.
Post-war operations
Government of the Soviet Union
The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was the de jure government comprising the highest executive and administrative body of the Soviet Union from 1946 until 1991....
went about repairing and rebuilding essential airport infrastructure, and it strengthened the Aeroflot units in the European part of the Soviet Union. Aeroflot had by the end of 1945 carried 537,000 passengers, compared with 359,000 in 1940. The government made it a priority in the immediate postwar years to expand services from Moscow to the capital of the Union republics
Republics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
, in addition to important industrial centres around the country. To enable this, the government transferred to Aeroflot a large number of Li-2s
Lisunov Li-2
The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by the GAZ-84 works at Moscow-Khimki, and subsequently at GAZ-33 at Tashkent-Vostochn. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.-Design and...
, and they would become the backbone of the fleet.
The Ilyushin Il-12
Ilyushin Il-12
The Ilyushin Il-12 was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.-Design and development:...
entered service on Aeroflot's all-Union scheduled routes on 22 August 1947, and supplemented already existing Li-2 services. The original Ilyushin Il-18 entered service around the same time as the Il-12, and was operated on routes from Moscow to Yakutsk
Yakutsk
With a subarctic climate , Yakutsk is the coldest city, though not the coldest inhabited place, on Earth. Average monthly temperatures range from in July to in January. The coldest temperatures ever recorded on the planet outside Antarctica occurred in the basin of the Yana River to the northeast...
, Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia...
, Vladivostok, Alma Ata, Tashkent, Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
, Mineralnye Vody
Mineralnye Vody
Mineralnye Vody is a town in Stavropol Krai, Russia, which lies along the Kuma River and the main rail line between Rostov-on-Don and Baku . Population:...
and Tbilisi. By 1950 the Il-18 was withdrawn from service, being replaced by Il-12s. MVL and general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
services received a boost in March 1948, when the first Antonov An-2
Antonov An-2
The Antonov An-2 is a single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed in the USSR in 1946...
s were delivered and entered service in Central Russia. Development of MVL services over latter years was attributed to the An-2, which was operated by Aeroflot in all areas of the Soviet Union.
Aeroflot's route network had extended to 295400 kilometres (183,553.5 mi) by 1950, and it carried 1,603,700 passengers, 151070 tonnes (333,052,339.5 lb) of freight and 30580 tonnes (67,417,359.8 lb) of mail during the same year. Night flights began in the same year, and the 5th Five-Year Plan, covering the period 1951-1955, emphasised Aeroflot expanding night-time operations, which vastly improved aircraft utilisation. By 1952, some 700 destinations around the Soviet Union received regular flights from Aeroflot. On 30 November 1954, the Ilyushin Il-14
Ilyushin Il-14
The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese...
entered service, and the aircraft took a leading role in the operation of Aerofclot's all-Union services. The number of passengers carried in 1955 increased to 2,500,000, whilst freight and mail carriage also increased, to 194,960 and 63,760 tons, respectively. By this time, Aeroflot's route network covered a distance of some 321500 kilometres (199,771.3 mi).
The 20th Communist Party Congress, held in 1956, saw plans for Aeroflot services to be dramatically increased. The airline would see its overall activities increased from its then current levels by 3.8 times, and it was set the target of the carriage of 16,000,000 passengers by 1960. In order to meet these goals, Aeroflot introduced higher capacity turbojet and turbine-prop aircraft on key domestic routes, and on services to Aeroflot destinations abroad. A major step for Aeroflot occurred on 15 September 1956 when the Tupolev Tu-104
Tupolev Tu-104
The Tupolev Tu-104 was a twin-engined medium-range turbojet-powered Soviet airliner and the world's first successful jet airliner...
jet airliner
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
entered service on the Moscow-Omsk
Omsk
-History:The wooden fort of Omsk was erected in 1716 to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz nomads of the Steppes...
-Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
route, marking the world's first sustained jet airline service. The airline began international flights with the type on 12 October 1956 under the command of Boris Bugayev with flights from Moscow to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. The aircraft placed Aeroflot in an envious position, as airlines in the West had operated throughout the 1950s with large piston-engined aircraft. By 1958 the route network covered 349200 kilometres (216,983.4 mi), and the airline carried 8,231,500 passengers, and 445,600 tons of mail and freight, with fifteen percent of all-Union services being operated by jet aircraft.
Aeroflot introduced the Antonov An-10
Antonov An-10
The Antonov An-10 was a four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union.-Design and development:...
and Ilyushin Il-18
Ilyushin Il-18
The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades...
in 1959, and together with its existing jet aircraft, the airline was able to extend services on modern aircraft to twenty one cities during 1960. The Tupolev Tu-114
Tupolev Tu-114
The Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya is a turboprop-powered long-range airliner designed by the Tupolev design bureau and built in the USSR from May 1955....
, then the world's largest airliner, entered service with the Soviet carrier on 24 April 1961 on the Moscow-Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia...
route; covering a distance of 6980 kilometres (4,337.2 mi) in 8 hours 20 minutes. The expansion of the Aeroflot fleet saw services with modern aircraft being extended to forty one cities in 1961, with fifty percent of all-Union services being operated by these aircraft. This fleet expansion also saw the number of passengers carried in 1961 skyrocketing to 21,800,000.
Tupolev Tu-124
The Tupolev Tu-124 was a 56 passenger short range twinjet airliner built in the Soviet Union. It was the world's first turbofan-powered airliner.- Design and development :...
and Antonov An-24
Antonov An-24
The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:...
entered regular service with Aeroflot on various medium and short-haul routes. By 1964, Aeroflot operated direct flights from Moscow to 100 cities, from Leningrad to 44 cities, and from Kiev to 38 cities. The airline also operated direct flights from Mineralnyie Vody to 48 cities across the Soviet Union, denoting the importance of the operation of holiday aircraft services to Aeroflot. Statistics for the same year showed Aerfolot operating an all-Union route network extending over 400000 kilometres (248,549.1 mi), and carrying 36,800,000 passengers.
By 1966 Aeroflot carried 47,200,000 passengers over a domestic route network of 474600 kilometres (294,903.5 mi). For the period of the 8th Five-Year Plan, which ran from 1966-1970, Aeroflot carried a total of 302,200,000 passengers, 6.47 billion tons of freight and 1.63 billion tons of mail. During the Five-Year Plan period, all-Union services were extended over an additional 350 routes; an additional 1,000 MVL routes were begun, and 40 new routes were opened up with all-cargo flights. The year 1967 saw the introduction into service of the Ilyushin Il-62
Ilyushin Il-62
The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...
and Tupolev Tu-134
Tupolev Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
, and in September 1968 the Yakovlev Yak-40
Yakovlev Yak-40
The Yakovlev Yak-40 is a small, three-engined airliner that is often called the first regional jet transport aircraft...
regional jet
Regional jet
A Regional jet , is a class of short to medium-range turbofan powered airliners.-History:The term "Regional jet" describes a range of short to medium-haul turbofan powered aircraft, whose use throughout the world expanded after the advent of Airline Deregulation in the United States in...
began operations on short-haul services. By 1970, the last year of the Five-Year Plan period, Aeroflot was operating flights to over 3,500 destinations in the Soviet Union, and at the height of the 1970 summer holidays season, the airline was carrying approximately 400,000 passengers per day, and some ninety percent of passengers were being carried on propeller-turbine and jet aircraft.
Expansion of international flights
In January 1971 the Central Administration of International Air Traffic (TsUMVS) was established within the framework of IATA, and became the sole enterprise authorised to operate international flights. Abroad, the airline was known as Aeroflot Soviet Airlines. In 1976 Aeroflot carried its 100 millionth passenger. Its flights were mainly concentrated around the Soviet Union, but the airline also had an international network covering five continents: North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The network included countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, Mexico and the People's Republic of China. Since the 1970s some transatlantic flights were flown using Shannon AirportShannon Airport
Shannon Airport, is one of the Republic of Ireland's three primary airports along with Dublin and Cork. In 2010 around 1,750,000 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and Cork, and the fifth busiest airport on the island...
in Ireland as an intermediate stop, as it was the westernmost non-NATO airport in Europe.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, revoking the airline's license to operate flights into and out of the United States. The reason for the order was the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by Soviet Air Force. At the start of the 1990s Aeroflot reorganised again giving more autonomy to territorial divisions. By 1992, REG Davies, former curator of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, claims that by 1992 Aeroflot had over 600,000 people operating over 10,000 aircraft. By 1967, Aeroflot amassed a fleet equal to that of the largest American carriers combined.
In 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
, Aeroflot was divided into more than 300 regional airlines. International routes were operated separately as Aeroflot – Russian International Airlines (ARIA). Some airline companies which were created from the old Aeroflot are now flag carriers of the newly independent countries – for example, Uzbekistan Airways, Air Moldova
Air Moldova
Air Moldova is an airline with its head office on the grounds of Chişinău International Airport in Chişinău, Moldova. It is the national airline of Moldova and operates scheduled services to 17 destinations in Europe. Its main base is Chişinău International Airport. The Air Moldova air operators...
and Lithuanian Airlines. Smaller regional airlines which emerged out of the old Aeroflot – sometimes just one-plane operations – were sometimes referred to as Babyflot
Babyflot
Babyflot is the informal name given to an airline in the former Soviet Union created from the dissolution of the Soviet airline monopoly Aeroflot in the early 1990s, at the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union...
s.
In 1994 Aeroflot was registered as a joint stock company
Joint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
and the government sold off 49% of its stake to Aeroflot employees. During the 1990s, Aeroflot was primarily focused on international flights from Moscow. However, by the end of the decade Aeroflot started an expansion in the domestic market. In 2000 the company name was changed to Aeroflot – Russian Airlines to reflect the change in the company strategy.
Other functions
Aeroflot also performed other functions, including aeromedicalAir ambulance
An air ambulance is an aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional ambulance cannot reach the scene easily or quickly enough, or the patient needs to be transported over a distance or terrain that makes air transportation the most practical transport....
, crop-dusting, heavy lifting for the Soviet Space Agency (see Soviet Space Programme
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...
), offshore oil platform support, exploration for natural resources, support for construction projects, transport of military troops and supplies (as an adjunct to the Soviet Air Force
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
), atmospheric research, and remote area patrol. It operated hundreds of helicopters and cargo aircraft in addition to civil airliners. It also operated the Soviet equivalent of a presidential aircraft and other VIP transports of government and communist party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
officials.
Aeroflot was also responsible for such services as ice patrol in the Arctic Ocean and escorting of ships through frozen seas, oil exploration, power line surveillance, and transportation and heavy lifting support on construction projects. For the latter tasks, Aeroflot used, in addition to smaller helicopters, the Mi-10 flying crane capable of lifting 11,000 to 14,000 kilograms. Hauling of heavy cargo, including vehicles, was performed by the world's largest operational helicopter, the Mi-26. Its unusual eight-blade rotor enabled it to lift a maximum payload of some twenty tons.
The close relationship between Aeroflot and the Soviet armed forces was underscored by the fact that the minister of civil aviation has been a high-ranking general or marshal of the Air Forces. Most Aeroflot pilots held reserve commissions in the Air Forces. The medium- and long-range passenger and cargo aircraft of Aeroflot were also part of the strategic air transport reserve, ready to provide immediate airlift support to the armed forces. Indeed, many aircraft in Aeroflot's inventory were of the same basic design as military aircraft and, even when loaded with bulky cargo and vehicles, were capable of operating from unimproved fields. They were characterized by high wings, low fuselages with cargo/vehicle loading ramps, and landing gear suitable for unimproved or marshy terrain. Short-range airplanes and helicopters were available for appropriate military support missions. Civil aviation also served as a cover for military operations. According to a Western authority, military aircraft belonging to the Military Transport Aviation (Voennaia transportnaia aviatsiia) have been painted in Aeroflot colors for use as food relief and arms or personnel transports to foreign countries.
Post-Soviet Aeroflot
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
. Countries declared their independence during January 1990–December 1991, resulting in the establishment of 15 republics
Republics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
. Up until this time, Aeroflot had been the only establishment providing air services throughout the CIS
CIS
CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of eleven former Soviet Union republics.The acronym CIS may also refer to:-Organizations:...
; with the breakup of the Soviet Union, Aeroflot branches of these countries began their own services, and the airline itself came under control of Russia, the largest of the CIS republics, and was renamed AeroflotRussian International Airlines.
Since the dissolution, Aeroflot has been actively working towards promoting and redefining itself as a safe and reliable airline. In the early 2000s
2000s
File:2000s decade montage3.png|From left, clockwise: The World Trade Center towers, in the wake of the September 11 attacks; the Euro enters into European currency in 2002; a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled during the Iraq War; U.S. troops heading toward an army helicopter during the War in...
, the airline hired British consultants for rebranding. From the start, plans were afoot to replace the old Soviet-era hammer and sickle
Hammer and sickle
The hammer and sickle is a part of communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with Communism, a Communist party, or a Communist state. It features a hammer and a sickle overlapping each other. The two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry; placing them...
logo, which some people in the West treated as a reminder of the Soviet communism; despite this the logo was not scrapped, as it was the most recognizable symbol of the company for over 70 years. A new livery
Aircraft livery
Aircraft livery is a paint scheme applied to an aircraft, generally to fuselage, wings, empennage , or jet engines. Most airlines have a standard paint scheme for their aircraft fleet, usually prominently displaying the airline logo or name. From time to time special liveries are introduced, for...
and uniforms for flight attendants were designed and a promotional campaign launched in 2003. It carried 5.9 million passengers in 2003.
Its fleet has undergone a major reorganisation during which most of the Soviet aircraft were replaced by more reliable Western jets such as A320/A319
Airbus A320 family
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
for short-haul flights in Europe and Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
and Airbus A330
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of EADS. Versions of the A330 have a range of and can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry of cargo....
for long-haul routes. In the spring of 2004 an expansion on the domestic market was undertaken, aiming to gain 30% share by 2010 (as of 2006 it held approximately 9%). The first task was to outperform S7 Airlines
S7 Airlines
OJSC Siberia Airlines , operating as S7 Airlines, is an airline headquartered in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia, with offices in Moscow. S7 Airlines has been Russia's fastest-growing airline and recently passed Aeroflot as Russia's largest domestic airline.S7 has operated scheduled passenger...
, a major rival and the leader in the domestic market. On 29 July 2004 a new corporate slogan was adopted: "Sincerely Yours. Aeroflot".
Recent developments
On Aeroflot became the first air carrier in the former Soviet Union to join a global alliance, SkyTeamSkyTeam
SkyTeam, branded as SKYTEAM, is an airline alliance with its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands...
. and occupied all of terminal 3 at Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport , is an international airport located in the Moscow Oblast, Russia, north-west of central Moscow. It is a hub for the passenger operations of the Russian international airline Aeroflot, and one of the three major airports serving Moscow along with Domodedovo...
in 2009. The company has announced its plan to increase cargo operations. It registered the "Aeroflot-Cargo
Aeroflot-Cargo
CJSC "Aeroflot-Cargo" was a fully owned subsidiary of Aeroflot-Russian Airlines, founded on 26 October 2005 and incorporated on 19 April 2006. It was the second largest cargo airline in Russia, behind Volga-Dnepr subsidiary AirBridge Cargo....
" trademark in 2006. During that year Aeroflot carried 7,290,000 passengers and 145,300 tons of mail and cargo to 89 destinations in 47 countries. It saw improvements in its earnings and number of passengers carried. The net profit
Net profit
Net profit or net revenue is a measure of the profitability of a venture after accounting for all costs. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 91 percent responded that they found the "net profit" metric very useful...
reached $309.4 million (RUB 7.98 billion) in 2006, a 32.3% increase from 2005 earnings of only $234 million (RUB6.03 billion). The revenue for the same 2005–2006 period rose by 13.5% to reach $2.77 billion with an 8.7% gain in passenger numbers.
The airline is owned (as of March 2007) by the Russian Government via Rosimushchestvo
Rosimushchestvo
The Federal Agency for State Property Management was a subdivision of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade that managed Russia's federal state property...
(51.17%), National Reserve Corporation (27%) and employees and others (19%) and has 14,900 employees.
In , the Russian government announced that all regional airlines owned by the state through the holding company Rostechnologii would be consolidated with the national carrier Aeroflot in order to increase the airlines' financial viability. The merger was completed in late ; in a deal worth million, Aeroflot's sister company Aeroflot-Finance became the major shareholder of Vladivostok Avia
Vladivostok Avia
Vladivostok Air is an airline based in Vladivostok, Russia.-Description:As the largest carrier in the Russian Far East and Siberia, Vladivostok Air operates scheduled domestic flights within Russia and international flights to Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as charter flights and a well...
, Saravia and Rossiya Airlines, and the sole shareholder of both SAT Airlines
SAT Airlines
OJSC "SAT Airlines — Sakhalinskie Aviatrassy" , commonly known as SAT Airlines, is an airline based in Sakhalin, Russia. It provides scheduled regional air services in Russia's Far East and to destinations in the People's Republic of China, South Korea and Japan. Other services include charter...
and Orenair.
Destinations
, Aeroflot operates scheduled passenger and cargo flights from its hub at Sheremetyevo International AirportSheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport , is an international airport located in the Moscow Oblast, Russia, north-west of central Moscow. It is a hub for the passenger operations of the Russian international airline Aeroflot, and one of the three major airports serving Moscow along with Domodedovo...
to 49 countries, serving 97 destinations.
Codeshare agreements
As of March 2011, in addition to being part of SkyTeamSkyTeam
SkyTeam, branded as SKYTEAM, is an airline alliance with its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands...
, Aeroflot has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
Operating and marketing partner with free sale agreement:
|
Operating partner with a free sale agreement:
Marketing partner with a free sale agreement:
Operating and marketing partner with a block sale arrangement:
|
Marketing partner with a block sale arrangement:
Operating partner with a block sale arrangement:
|
Fleet
In 1993 Aeroflot began operating the Ilyushin Il-96-300Ilyushin Il-96
The Ilyushin Il-96 is a four-engined long-haul widebody airliner designed by Ilyushin in the Soviet Union and manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh, Russia...
aircraft on the Moscow–New York route. The company now flies six aircraft of the type – about one half of all Il-96s in commercial service worldwide – and promised to buy six more if the Russian State allowed it not to pay import duty on Western-built aircraft. Industry experts claim the company is trying to terminate the deal with Ilyushin as operating the Il-96 is not cost-effective.
In 2006 it leased three used Boeing 767-300ER
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
from ILFC for 5 years. The first two aircraft were delivered in November 2006 and January 2007, the third one was delivered in March 2007. The company had previously leased two Boeing 767-300ER from ILFC.
As of 2007, Aeroflot is in the midst of an overhaul of its fleet structure. The aging Tupolev Tu-134s used on the short- and mid-haul routes were phased out by 2008 and were replaced by the Sukhoi Superjet 100
Sukhoi Superjet 100
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern, fly-by-wire regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category. With development starting in 2000, the plane was designed by the civil aircraft division of the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Western partners...
in 2011.
For long-haul routes the company has ordered the Airbus A330
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of EADS. Versions of the A330 have a range of and can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry of cargo....
, the Airbus A350
Airbus A350
The Airbus A350 is a family of long-range, wide-body jet airliners under development by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.A consortium originally comprising European aerospace companies from the UK, France, Spain and West Germany, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known...
and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
On 22 March 2007, Aeroflot signed an agreement with Airbus for the acquisition of 22 Airbus A350-800/900
Airbus A350
The Airbus A350 is a family of long-range, wide-body jet airliners under development by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.A consortium originally comprising European aerospace companies from the UK, France, Spain and West Germany, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known...
s, with deliveries starting in 2015.
Aeroflot and Boeing signed a deal for the 22 Dreamliners on the sidelines of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
International Economic Forum, with deliveries starting in 2014. Aeroflot's CEO Okulov confirmed that the existing Airbus order "would not be affected".
In May 2007, Finnair
Finnair
Finnair Plc is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters on the grounds of Helsinki Airport in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest...
has announced the sale of its last two self-owned MD-11
McDonnell Douglas MD-11
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is a three-engine medium- to long-range widebody jet airliner, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas and, later, by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Based on the DC-10, it features a stretched fuselage, increased wingspan with winglets, refined airfoils on the wing and smaller...
s to Aeroflot which are thus to become part of the Russian airline cargo fleet in 2008 and 2009.
Matters came to a head in September 2006 as Aeroflot's Board of Directors convened to vote on the Boeing contract. This coincided with the USA imposing sanctions on various Russian companies (including a major aircraft maker, Sukhoi
Sukhoi
Sukhoi Company is a major Russian aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, famous for its fighters...
) for allegedly supplying Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
in violation of the US's Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000
Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000
The Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 is a United States Act of Congress signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 14, 2000. The act authorizes the President of the United States to take punitive action against individuals or organizations known to be providing material aid to weapons of...
and with the Russian state-owned Vneshtorgbank
Vneshtorgbank
Bank VTB , former Vneshtorgbank, is one of the leading universal banks of Russia and the largest in terms of authorized capital....
buying 5% of the stock in EADS
EADS
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...
, the corporation behind Airbus. The State's representatives on the board abstained from the vote and another round of lobbying ensued, with Russian news sources reporting Aeroflot's efforts to placate the State by offering to order both 22 Boeing 787s and 22 Airbus 350s, effectively doubling its long-range fleet. Banker Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev is a Russian businessman, referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs.In May 2008, he was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the richest Russians and as the 358th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $3.1 billion...
, the man behind National Reserve Corporation, reached a deal with Boeing to prolong the deadline, using his corporation's money.
Ten Airbus A330
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of EADS. Versions of the A330 have a range of and can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry of cargo....
s —five A330-200s and five A330-300s— had also been ordered, scheduled to arrive on operating lease starting in late 2008. Despite these aircraft were initially aimed at providing interim capacity ahead of the arrival of both the Airbus A350
Airbus A350
The Airbus A350 is a family of long-range, wide-body jet airliners under development by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.A consortium originally comprising European aerospace companies from the UK, France, Spain and West Germany, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known...
s and the Boeing 787
Boeing 787
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It seats 210 to 290 passengers, depending on the variant. Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use...
s the company had previously ordered, the type has been gradually incorporated to the fleet on a long-term basis. The first Airbus A330-200 effectively entered the fleet in late 2008, and was initially put into service on the Moscow–St. Petersburg route for testing purposes.
In July 2010, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
pressured Aeroflot to buy Russian-made aircraft
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
for future expansion and fleet renewal. On 1 September 2010, Aeroflot announced that it had plans to order a total of 126 Russian-built aircraft by 2020. The aircraft to be purchased are Irkut MS-21s, Sukhoi Superjet 100
Sukhoi Superjet 100
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern, fly-by-wire regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category. With development starting in 2000, the plane was designed by the civil aircraft division of the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Western partners...
s, Antonov An-140
Antonov An-140
|-Accidents and Incidents:The An-140 has suffered five major accidents. Two of them had no fatalities, and three had all on board killed.#In December 2002 an aircraft carrying many of Ukraine's top aviation designers and engineers crashed into a mountainside as it was preparing to land in...
s, and Antonov An-148
Antonov An-148
The Antonov An-148 Antonov Design Bureau from Kiev, Ukraine, is a regional jet aircraft designed by the Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau and produced by Ukraine's Kiev Aviation Plant AVIANT and Russia's Voronezh Aircraft Production Association. Development of the plane was started in the 1990s,...
s. The aircraft are to be used for fleet replacement in Aeroflot, as well as six other airlines of which Aeroflot is taking control.
Current
For most of its history, Aeroflot's fleet consisted entirely of planes built by Soviet manufacturers AntonovAntonov
Antonov, or Antonov Aeronautical Scientist/Technical Complex , formerly the Antonov Design Bureau, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company with particular expertise in the field of very large aircraft construction. Antonov ASTC is a state-owned commercial company...
, Ilyushin
Ilyushin
Open Joint Stock Company «Ilyushin Aviation Complex» , operating as Ilyushin or Ilyushin Design Bureau, is a Russian design bureau and aircraft manufacturer, founded by Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin. Ilyushin was established under the Soviet Union. Its operations began on January 13, 1933, by...
, and Tupolev
Tupolev
Tupolev is a Russian aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Basmanny District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. Known officially as Public Stock Company Tupolev, it is the successor of the Tupolev OKB or Tupolev Design Bureau headed by the Soviet aerospace engineer A.N. Tupolev...
. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution and subsequent partition of the airline, Aeroflot has begun to replace its old Soviet aircraft with Western models.
, the Aeroflot fleet includes the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Orders | Options | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | E | Total | |||||
| Airbus A319-100 Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001... |
15 | 1 | — | 20 | 96 | 116 | |
| Airbus A320-200 Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001... |
43 | 6 | — | 20 | 120 | 140 | |
| Airbus A321-200 Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001... |
18 | 8 | — | 28 | 142 | 170 | |
| Airbus A330-200 Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of EADS. Versions of the A330 have a range of and can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry of cargo.... |
5 | — | — | 34 | 207 | 241 | |
| Airbus A330-300 Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of EADS. Versions of the A330 have a range of and can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry of cargo.... |
8 | 8 | — | 34 | 268 | 302 | VQ-BCQ wearing SkyTeam SkyTeam SkyTeam, branded as SKYTEAM, is an airline alliance with its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands... livery Aircraft livery Aircraft livery is a paint scheme applied to an aircraft, generally to fuselage, wings, empennage , or jet engines. Most airlines have a standard paint scheme for their aircraft fleet, usually prominently displaying the airline logo or name. From time to time special liveries are introduced, for... |
| Airbus A350-800 Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a family of long-range, wide-body jet airliners under development by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.A consortium originally comprising European aerospace companies from the UK, France, Spain and West Germany, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known... |
— | 18 | — | TBA | |||
| Airbus A350-900 Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a family of long-range, wide-body jet airliners under development by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.A consortium originally comprising European aerospace companies from the UK, France, Spain and West Germany, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known... |
— | 4 | — | TBA | |||
| Boeing 737-700 | — | 15 | — | TBA | Expected EIS: 2013; to be leased from Rostechnology |
||
| Boeing 737-800 | — | 25 | — | TBA | |||
| Boeing 737-900ER | — | 10 | — | TBA | |||
| Boeing 767-300ER Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail... |
9 | — | — | 30 | 188 | 218 | |
| Boeing 777-300ER Boeing 777 The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from , depending on model... |
— | 16 | — | TBA | Expected EIS: 2012 Will be wearing a skyteam alliance painting. | ||
| Boeing 787-8 | — | 22 | — | TBA | |||
| Ilyushin Il-96-300 Ilyushin Il-96 The Ilyushin Il-96 is a four-engined long-haul widebody airliner designed by Ilyushin in the Soviet Union and manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh, Russia... |
6 | — | — | 22 | 260 | 282 | |
| Irkut MS-21 | — | 50 | — | TBA | |||
| Sukhoi Superjet 100-95 Sukhoi Superjet 100 The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a modern, fly-by-wire regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category. With development starting in 2000, the plane was designed by the civil aircraft division of the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Western partners... |
3 | 27 | 10 | 12 | 75 | 87 | |
| Total | 107 | 210 | 10 | ||||
Cargo
According to the British newspaper The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, the Aeroflot board announced on 7 May 2009 that the cargo division of the company was no longer profitable and that the company was considering its liquidation through bankruptcy.
The board announced a 30% fall in freight.
Retired
During the Soviet era, almost all Aeroflot's airliners were built by Soviet manufacturers. During the 1940s and the early 1950s, the main aircraft was a licensed version of the Douglas DC-3Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
. Soviet-made, modified versions of this airliner were named the PS-84 and the Lisunov Li-2
Lisunov Li-2
The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by the GAZ-84 works at Moscow-Khimki, and subsequently at GAZ-33 at Tashkent-Vostochn. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.-Design and...
. The first to be produced in the Soviet Union was completed in 1939. The Li-2 would be replaced by the Ilyushin Il-12
Ilyushin Il-12
The Ilyushin Il-12 was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.-Design and development:...
, which entered service in 1947, and the Ilyushin Il-14
Ilyushin Il-14
The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese...
, which entered service in 1954. Aeroflot also operated large numbers of the Antonov An-2
Antonov An-2
The Antonov An-2 is a single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed in the USSR in 1946...
STOL biplane (first flying in 1947), in passenger and cargo roles. The An-2 remained in service until the 1980s.
On 15 September 1956 Aeroflot began to operate the Tupolev Tu-104
Tupolev Tu-104
The Tupolev Tu-104 was a twin-engined medium-range turbojet-powered Soviet airliner and the world's first successful jet airliner...
, the USSR's first jet airliner in regular service. The first passenger-carrying flight was from Moscow to Irkutsk, Russia
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
. The first international route was Moscow–Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
). In 1962 Aeroflot began operating the Tupolev Tu-124
Tupolev Tu-124
The Tupolev Tu-124 was a 56 passenger short range twinjet airliner built in the Soviet Union. It was the world's first turbofan-powered airliner.- Design and development :...
, the smaller version of the Tu-104, on regional routes. These were later replaced by the Tupolev Tu-134
Tupolev Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
, which entered service in 1967. Upgraded versions of the Tu-134 still make up much of the Russian regional fleet today.
The Tupolev Tu-114
Tupolev Tu-114
The Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya is a turboprop-powered long-range airliner designed by the Tupolev design bureau and built in the USSR from May 1955....
, originally used to transport Soviet leaders and once the world's largest commercial aircraft, came into service on on the Moscow-Vnukovo
Vnukovo International Airport
Vnukovo International Airport , is a dual runway international airport located southwest from the centre of Moscow, Russia. It is one of three major airports serving Moscow...
–Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia...
route. It also served international routes, such as Moscow–Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in conjunction with Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines
is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
, as well as the Moscow–Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
route, the airline's longest non-stop service at that time, which started on .
The first Ilyushin Il-62
Ilyushin Il-62
The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...
long-range four-engined airliner entered service with Aeroflot in 1967, with an inaugural flight from Moscow to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
on 15 September. It was complemented, in 1972, by medium-range Tupolev Tu-154
Tupolev Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range narrow-body airliner designed in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. As the mainstay 'workhorse' of Soviet and Russian airlines for several decades, it serviced over a sixth of the world's landmass and carried half of all passengers flown...
. This jet is the most popular Russian airliner, with more than 1,000 made. The latest modification, Tu-154M, still operates on Russian domestic routes.
On 1 November 1977 Aeroflot started to use the Tupolev Tu-144
Tupolev Tu-144
The Tupolev Tu-144 was a Soviet supersonic transport aircraft and remains one of only two SSTs to enter commercial service, the other being the Concorde...
, the world's first civil supersonic aircraft, on its regular route from Moscow (Domodedovo International Airport
Domodedovo International Airport
Moscow Domodedovo Airport or Domodedovo International Airport is an international airport located in Domodedovsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia, south-southeast of the centre of Moscow...
) to Alma-Ata (now Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
, Kazakhstan). The flights with a range of 3,260 km were performed at an altitude of 16,000- 17,000 m and at a speed of 2300 km/h (1,429.2 mph). The capacity did not exceed 80 persons. This service was performed once a week until the end of service in June 1978 when it was suspended from passenger service. 55 flights were executed and 3,284 passengers were carried.
In 1980 the Ilyushin Il-86
Ilyushin Il-86
The Ilyushin Il-86 is a medium-range wide-body jet airliner. It was the USSR's first wide-body and the world's second four-engined wide-body...
, the first Russian-made wide-body aircraft, joined the fleet, reaching a total of 11. These were phased out by the end of 2006.
The first Western-made aircraft, the Airbus A310
Airbus A310
The Airbus A310 is a medium- to long-range twin-engine widebody jet airliner. Launched in July 1978, it was the second aircraft created by Airbus Industrie,a consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. the consortium of...
, was acquired in 1992. The company also became a Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
customer, acquiring new Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
jets in 1994. Since then Aeroflot has also operated Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
s, Airbus A320
Airbus A320 family
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
s, and the cargo version of the Douglas DC-10s
McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...
.
From 1998 to 2005, Aeroflot leased two Boeing 777
Boeing 777
The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from , depending on model...
s, using the type on routes to the USA.
On , Aeroflot retired the last Tupolev Tu-134
Tupolev Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved...
after 40 years in service; the last flight serviced the Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
–Moscow route. Aeroflot was forced to withdraw these aircraft from service due to noise restrictions. Fourteen airplanes comprised the type's fleet by that time; they were offered for sale to the sister companies.
The retirement of the last Tupolev Tu-154
Tupolev Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range narrow-body airliner designed in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. As the mainstay 'workhorse' of Soviet and Russian airlines for several decades, it serviced over a sixth of the world's landmass and carried half of all passengers flown...
occurred on , after 40 years of service. The last flight the type operated was the Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...
-Moscow, taking place on .
| Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A310 Airbus A310 The Airbus A310 is a medium- to long-range twin-engine widebody jet airliner. Launched in July 1978, it was the second aircraft created by Airbus Industrie,a consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. the consortium of... |
1992 | 2005 | | |
| Boeing 737–300 Boeing 737 Classic The Boeing 737 Classic is the name given to the -300/-400/-500 series of the Boeing 737 following the introduction of the -600/-700/-800/-900 series. They are short- to medium- range, narrow-body jet airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The Classic series was introduced as the 'new... |
2008 | 2009 | cargo aircraft |
| Boeing 737–400 Boeing 737 Classic The Boeing 737 Classic is the name given to the -300/-400/-500 series of the Boeing 737 following the introduction of the -600/-700/-800/-900 series. They are short- to medium- range, narrow-body jet airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The Classic series was introduced as the 'new... |
1998 | 2004 | | |
| Boeing 767–300 Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail... |
1994 | | | |
| Boeing 777 Boeing 777 The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet and is commonly referred to as the "Triple Seven". The aircraft has seating for over 300 passengers and has a range from , depending on model... |
1998 | 2005 | aircraft leased from Boeing |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-10 McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a... |
1995 | 2009 | cargo aircraft |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-11 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is a three-engine medium- to long-range widebody jet airliner, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas and, later, by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Based on the DC-10, it features a stretched fuselage, increased wingspan with winglets, refined airfoils on the wing and smaller... |
2008 | ||
| cargo aircraft | |||
| Ilyushin Il-12 Ilyushin Il-12 The Ilyushin Il-12 was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport.-Design and development:... |
1947 | 1970 | | |
| Ilyushin Il-14 Ilyushin Il-14 The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese... |
1954 | ? | | |
| Ilyushin Il-18 Ilyushin Il-18 The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that became one of the best known Soviet aircraft of its era as well as one of the most popular and durable, having first flown in 1957 and still in use over 50 years later. The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades... |
1958 | ? | | |
| Ilyushin Il-62 Ilyushin Il-62 The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with... |
1967 | 2002 | | |
| Ilyushin Il-76 Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose four-engined strategic airlifter designed by Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a commercial freighter in 1967. Intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-12, the Il-76 was designed for delivering heavy machinery to remote, poorly-serviced areas... |
1979 | 2004 | cargo aircraft |
| Ilyushin Il-86 Ilyushin Il-86 The Ilyushin Il-86 is a medium-range wide-body jet airliner. It was the USSR's first wide-body and the world's second four-engined wide-body... |
1980 | 2006 | | |
| Tupolev Tu-104 Tupolev Tu-104 The Tupolev Tu-104 was a twin-engined medium-range turbojet-powered Soviet airliner and the world's first successful jet airliner... |
1956 | 1979 | | |
| Tupolev Tu-114 Tupolev Tu-114 The Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya is a turboprop-powered long-range airliner designed by the Tupolev design bureau and built in the USSR from May 1955.... |
1961 | 1976 | | |
| Tupolev Tu-124 Tupolev Tu-124 The Tupolev Tu-124 was a 56 passenger short range twinjet airliner built in the Soviet Union. It was the world's first turbofan-powered airliner.- Design and development :... |
1962 | 1967 | | |
| Tupolev Tu-134 Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 is a twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9 and the French Sud Aviation Caravelle, and built in the Soviet Union from 1966–1984. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain other Russian airliners , it can operate from unpaved... |
1967 | 2008 | replaced Tu-124 |
| Tupolev Tu-144 Tupolev Tu-144 The Tupolev Tu-144 was a Soviet supersonic transport aircraft and remains one of only two SSTs to enter commercial service, the other being the Concorde... |
1977 | 1978 | | |
| Tupolev Tu-154 Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range narrow-body airliner designed in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. As the mainstay 'workhorse' of Soviet and Russian airlines for several decades, it serviced over a sixth of the world's landmass and carried half of all passengers flown... |
1968 | 2009 | | |
| Tupolev Tu-204 Tupolev Tu-204 The Tupolev Tu-204 is a twin-engined medium-range jet airliner capable of carrying 210 passengers, designed by Tupolev and produced by Aviastar SP and Kazan Aircraft Production Association. First introduced in 1989, it is considered to be broadly equivalent to the Boeing 757 and has competitive... |
1990 | 2005 | | |
| Antonov An-2 Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 is a single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed in the USSR in 1946... |
1948 | ? | | |
| Antonov An-10 Antonov An-10 The Antonov An-10 was a four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union.-Design and development:... |
1959 | 1973 | | |
| Antonov An-24 Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau from 1957.-Design and development:... |
1962 | ? | | |
| Antonov An-124 Antonov An-124 The Antonov An-124 Ruslan is a strategic airlift jet aircraft. It was designed by the Ukrainian SSR's Antonov design bureau, then part of the Soviet Union. It is the world's largest ever serially-manufactured cargo airplane and world's second largest operating cargo aircraft... |
1980 | 2000 | cargo aircraft |
| Yakovlev Yak-40 Yakovlev Yak-40 The Yakovlev Yak-40 is a small, three-engined airliner that is often called the first regional jet transport aircraft... |
1966 | 1995 | | |
| Yakovlev Yak-42 Yakovlev Yak-42 The Yakovlev Yak-42 is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet. It was designed as a replacement for several obsolete Aeroflot jets as a mid-range passenger jet... |
1980 | 2000 | | |
Frequent flyer program
| Level | Benefits | Requirements | SkyTeam SkyTeam SkyTeam, branded as SKYTEAM, is an airline alliance with its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands... Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular |
|
Travelers can start their participation in Aeroflot Bonus Programme from the age of 2 (Aeroflot Junior) | – |
| Silver |
|
25000 miles (40,233.5 km) or 25 flight segments during calendar year |
Elite |
| Gold |
|
50000 miles (80,467 km) or 50 flight segments during calendar year |
Elite Plus |
Accidents and incidents
There are records of approximately 127 accidents involving Aeroflot aircraft and 6,875 fatalities (plus 20 people killed on the ground), making an average of 54.13 fatalities per accident since 1953. Until 1991, all civil aviation and aircraft in the Soviet Union, from the An-2 to the Il-86, (as well as some military aircraft), operated with Aeroflot's name on it.See also
- List of airports in Russia
- Transport in RussiaTransport in RussiaThe transport network of the Russian Federation is one of the world's most extensive. The national web of roads, railways and airways stretches almost from Kaliningrad in the west to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the east, and major cities such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg are served by extensive...
- Transportation in the Soviet Union