Aeroflot
Aeroflot ÃÂÃÂ Russian International Airlines (Аэрофло́т – Росси́йские междунаро́дные авиали́нии), or Aeroflot (Аэрофло́т), Russian airline that was formerly the national airline of the Soviet Union.
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2 Recent developments 3 Other facts of interest 4 External links |
Aeroflot Airbus A319 (VP-BWA) at Berlin
Aeroflot has a very complex history, and most of it has been shaped by world changes outside the airline's company structure. Aeroflot, like Cubana de AviaciÃÂón, had to stop flying into the United States once the Cold War began, and many of its records were kept secret by the old Soviet Union.
Nevertheless, Aeroflot during one period grew into what was considered by the World Almanac as the world's largest airline company, with flights mainly concentrating around the Soviet Union but also with a international network that included such countries as the United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, and People's Republic of China. Transatlantic flights were flown using Shannon Airport in Ireland as a hub, as it was the westernmost non-NATO airport in Europe.
It 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 1970s and 1980s, and as a cause of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had problems keeping an adequate technological aviation program. This reflected in a few Aeroflot accidents at the time, and it still keeps reflecting as new Eastern Bloc airlines keep buying old Russian equipment and suffering tragedies.
Aeroflot foresaw the need to buy new and more modern equipment, and upon the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, it immediately started buying Western equipment, starting with Airbus aircraft.
In 1992, Aeroflot became an open joint stock company, and in 1994, it entered the United States market, with flights to New York's JFK International Airport and San Francisco, California. Aeroflot also became a Boeing customer, adding new, just out of the plant Boeing 767 jet planes. After this makeover, Aeroflot's safe flights rate is currently 99.94 percent.
Its passenger operations are out of Sheremetyevo International Airport and its cargo operations are out of Domodedovo International Airport. Both airports are located near Moscow, Russia.
History
Recent developments
Unlike many Russian companies, Aeroflot has embraced a new era of superior advantages and technology, it has been able to avoid the post-Communism poverty that the country has had to deal with, and has become a safe and reliable international airline whose safety standards match the highest requirements.Other facts of interest
External links
| List of Aircraft - Aircraft Manufacturers - Aircraft Engines - Aircraft Engine Manufacturers |
| Airlines - Air Forces - Aircraft Weapons - Missiles - Years in Aviation |