Russian Airlines – from Dobrolet to Aeroflot

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

People of the middle and older generation sometimes recall with nostalgia unobtrusive advertising from the Soviet era calling for flying with Aeroflot aircraft. Posters with this slogan were hung near the ticket offices and just in crowded places, there was no commercial sense in it, since this air carrier had no competitors.

The current Aeroflot - Russian Airlines OJSC is a direct descendant of this powerful organization that united enterprises of various profiles. The emblem, depicting a sickle and a hammer framed by wings, with good-natured humor referred to as a "hen", was applied to the fuselages of a wide variety of non-military equipment. Agricultural, polar, research, meteorological, super-heavy transport, government, in general, any aviation - all this was Aeroflot. And this is not counting the main direction, that is, the transportation of passengers. Of course, there were cases when the defense industry also used the airline's services, and in case of war there were plans for an almost instantaneous transition to serving the army's needs.

Today Russian Airlines is one of thelargest companies in the world, its technical fleet operates the most modern types of aircraft, both domestic and imported. However, this is only a continuation of the glorious traditions of the Soviet era. The expression "for the first time in the world" was often used in relation to the achievements of Aeroflot.

The Dobrolet Society was established in 1923, in 1932 it received a name that became one of the most famous trademarks in the world, which was inherited by Russian Airlines. The winged emblem has become a symbol of reliability and a high culture of service, especially on international flights.

Before the war, air transportation did not occupy a very prominent place in the total passenger traffic, although the basis for the future power of Russian Airlines was laid back in 1939, when the Stalinist leadership decided to acquire a license to manufacture DC from the American company Douglas -3. At that time, this type of aircraft was the most advanced in the class of passenger transport aviation; in the USSR it was produced under the Li-2 index. The heavenly hard worker helped a lot during the war hard times, and then, after the Victory, they began to use it for passenger transportation.

Then the medium-haul Il-14 took over the main passenger flow, then the Allied and Russian airlines took over the An-24. For long-distance flights, the world's first Tu-104 jet passenger aircraft and Tu-114 turboprops have been used since 1956.

Listing of all types of aircraft used byRussian Airlines, would take more than one page of small text. Everything was here: small, with a cabin like a minibus, An-2, An-14 "Pchelka", L-410, and huge Ana-transporters, and even a supersonic Tu-144.

After the collapse of the USSR, Aeroflot became a Russian airline. Having survived the difficult nineties, he again took a strong position in the domestic and international air transportation market.

From the Soviet "Aeroflot" "Russian Airlines" differ in the presence in the aircraft fleet, in addition to domestic Ils and Dry American "Boeings" and European "Airbuses". The emblem remained the same, although the red hammer and sickle flag was replaced by a white-blue-red tricolor on the tail unit.