"AEROFLOT" HISTORY
History
The company was founded in 1923 under the name Dobroflot and was reorganized under the name Aeroflot in 1932. International flights started in 1937, before that date they had been carried out by a joint Soviet-German airline Deruluft.
During the Soviet era Aeroflot was a synonym for Russian civil aviation. One of the rare examples of Soviet commercial advertisement was Aeroflot slogan: "Fly on Aeroflot planes!" The paradox was that Aeroflot had no competitors and it was virtually impossible for an average Soviet citizen to fly on a non-Aeroflot plane.
The airline grew into what was considered by the World Almanac as the world's largest airline company. In 1976 Aeroflot carried more then 100 million passengers for the first time. Its flights were mainly concentrating around the Soviet Union, but the airline also had an international network covering five continents: North and South Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. The network included countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, and People's Republic of China. Since the 1970s some transatlantic flights were flown using Shannon Airport in Ireland as a hub, as it was the westernmost non-NATO airport in Europe.
Aeroflot joined IATA in 1989.
At the start of the 1990s Aeroflot was divided into hundreds of new airlines. The biggest one was the Moscow-based subsidiary responsible for international flights, which possessed the brand (Aeroflot - Soviet International Airlines). Some airline companies which were created from the old Aeroflot are now flag carriers of the newly independent countries of the CIS ??" e.g., Ukraine International Airlines. Smaller regional airlines which emerged out of the old Aeroflot ??" sometimes just one-plane operations ??" are sometimes referred to as Babyflots.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union the decision was made to reorganize Aeroflot as an open joint stock company (the company was created in 1994 under the name Aeroflot ??" Russian International Airlines). The Russian government still owns 51% of the airline.
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's strategy.
The transition period severely damaged the safety record of the company. There was a number of accidents at the start of the 1990s. The last one was in 1994, when an A310 crashed near Mezhdurechensk, Russia killing 75 people on board. It happened after a captain allowed his 15 year-old son to manipulate the controls of the plane while a co-pilot was not able to reach the controls properly.
Nevertheless, Aeroflot managed to improve itself dramatically in a short period of time and the airline's safe flights rate is currently 99.94 percent.
The company used to be severely criticized for its bad service, especially in the first half of 1990s. Although service has improved since then, the hardest part was to train attendants to deliver it with a smile. In the mid-1990s the company even had an advertisement slogan: "We don't smile, because we're serious about making you happy".
Fleet history
During the Soviet era Aeroflot had 100% Russian-made fleet. In fact, all Soviet civil aircrafts were build for Aeroflot.
On September 15, 1956 Aeroflot started to operate Tupolev Tu-104 - the World's first jet airplane in regular service. The first flight with passengers was from Moscow to Irkutsk, Russia. The first international route served by Tu-104 was Moscow - Prague, Czech Republic.
The Tupolev Tu-114, originally used to transport Soviet leaders, came into service in 1962 on the Moscow - Havana, Cuba route, the longest non-stop route of the airline at that time.
In 1972 the first Tupolev Tu-154 began regular flights. This jet airplane is probably the most popular Russian airliner (more than 1000 of these were build in total). It is also one of the most reliable planes in the world. The latest modification Tu-154M is still in service.
In 1974 Aeroflot started to use the Tupolev Tu-144 - the world's first civil supersonic aircraft on its regular route from Moscow to Alma-Ata (now Almaty, Kazakhstan). Tu-144s were retired from service in 1984.
In 1980 the Ilyushin Il-86 - the first Russian-made wide-body plane -joined the fleet. Eleven planes are still in use for charter flights.
In 1993 Aeroflot started to operate the Ilyushin Il-96-300 airplanes on its route Moscow-New York.
The first western-made aircraft (the Airbus A310) was acquired in 1992. The company also became a Boeing customer, adding new Boeing 767 jet planes in 1994. Since then Aeroflot has also operated Boeing 737s, Boeing 777s, Airbus A320 family and the cargo version of the Douglas DC-10s.
Other facts of interest
