Airline History Blog - YESTERDAY'S AIRLINES

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Tabriz Feather: Eram Air

25/7/2021

Iranian aviation is famous for keeping elderly aircraft in the air, but that achievement shouldn't overshadow what is a vibrant civil airline scene, which has at least 16 jet operators in 2021. Even so, some Iranian carriers have fallen by the wayside including the operator Eram Air, an airline whose main claim to fame is probably that it has been represented in 400 scale with a model!

Air Great Wall: From Chongqing to Ningbo

3/6/2021

I am a major fan not only of Chinese airlines but also obscure airlines so an obscure Chinese airline is surely too good to pass up, especially when it has been represented in 400 scale twice by, that other lover of obscure airliners, Aeroclassics. Air Great Wall was one of many small airlines that appeared after the decentralisation of the Chinese air carrier market, but although some smaller carriers would grow into majors many others were swallowed up by the big three.

Birch Tree: Samara Airlines

25/5/2021

The 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union produced a dazzling array of new airlines, many of which were poorly run and organised. Some however acquired classy images, and became important well-run airlines. Samara Airlines was one of the latter, whose involvement with Russia's first airline alliance would contribute to its eventual failure.

Interflug 154s: East Germany’s Mysterious Trijets

30/10/2018

The Tupolev TU-154 is the most successful jet airliner that the Soviet Union ever produced. Sturdy, reliable (at least from the TU-154B onwards) and at least vaguely efficient it went on to have a production run of over 1,000 units and serve extensively with almost every country that had any kind of allegiance to the USSR. About the only exception to this was East Germany where only two TU-154s were ever entered onto the register.

Crash Course: Egypt’s Soviet Adventure

3/10/2018

Since independence Egypt has had a volatile history, which included a period where ties with the Soviet Union grew stronger. It also however coincided with a time when you had to be brave to fly the national airline at all and the number of aircraft, both Soviet and Western that it crashed was quite staggering. Here I take a look at how Soviet types fared flying from Cairo.

Pork for Planes: Sichuan's TU-154s

31/5/2018

The late 1980s and early 1990s saw a proliferation of small Chinese airlines in addition to the major regional bueraus spawned from CAAC. Many of these smaller carriers were swallowed up in the great agglomeration of 2003 but some like Sichuan Airlines have gone from strength to strength. In Sichuan's case this is despite a formative period with obsolete equipment.

CAAC Tupolevs: 154s in China Pt2

8/5/2018

Although the PLAAF and its China United subsidiary would get the first 4 TU-154s in China the CAAC itself would acquire some of this first batch of TU-154s too. In fact it got the lion's share with thirteen aircraft joining in 1985/86. They didn't remain with the CAAC for very long however due to the changes afoot in the Chinese industry.

CUA Tupolevs: 154s in China Pt1

26/4/2018

Despite being fellow Communist states relations between the Soviet Union and China were often poor, especially during the 1970s. This and the limited needs of the CAAC meant that it wasn't until the mid-80s that TU-154s found their way to China, by which time they were obsolete. So why were the Chinese buying them at all?

Obscure Russians 4: Baikal Airlines

27/6/2015

Irkutsk is a city of extremes - freezing in winter down to -49.7°C and heating up in the summer to up to 37°C. Despite this it has a history as a city of culture on the shores of Lake Baikal. It is the lake which gave its hometown airline its name and also inspired what must be one of the most attractive liveries worn by a Russian airline in the 1990s. Baikal Airlines was one of the many 'Babyflots' that sprung up in the 90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Obscure Russians 3: MAVIAL Magadan

24/6/2015

There are some places in Russia so remote that air travel is the only sensible way to reach them. The city of Magadan is one such place - somewhere with a dark history and a hostile environment to match it. From 1993-2006 the city's main link to the outside world was via MAVIAL Magadan Airlines, which even acquired some small recognition outside of Russia by operating direct to the USA across the freezing Bering Straits.

Obscure Russians 1: Eurasia Airlines

17/3/2015

There was a brief period in the early 2000s when both Phoenix and Aeroclassics released a range of Russian aircraft representing airlines that by 2015 have long faded into obscurity and in their day weren't well known even in Russia. One of these is Eurasia Airlines (UH/EUS) which was a Moscow based carrier that began service in 1997.

DPRK Trijets: Air Koryo's TU-154s

30/12/2014

North Korea is a repugnant state, which if the world were at all run by decent minded people wouldn't exist. However even though they are happy to destroy their own citizens and threaten war constantly one group they seem to love (rather ironically considering how most of the rest of the world hates them) is planespotters!

Seems like you can get a great spotting trip to North Korea and fly in and photograph classic Russian birds as much as you like. Check out the tours for 2015 here. Tempting but difficult to marry up with my scruples! Anyway Air Koryo is an interesting airline.

Pulkovo: Russia's No 3 Airline

16/12/2014

Pulkovo Federal State Unified Aviation Service Company (“Пулково”) was formed from Aeroflot’s St Petersburg division in 1992 and was fully government owned. It operated St Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport as well as the airline which was the third largest in Russia by the late 1990s.

Initially operating in Aeroflot’s colours it began to rebrand in 1997 and became a fairly common sight at European airports.

Silver T-Birds: Aeroflot TU-154s Into the 2000s

15/12/2014

The Tupolev Tu-154 was a rugged and effective aircraft for the often primitive operating environment found at many Soviet-era airports, especially during the Russian winter. However by the early 2000s the type was obsolete, although lack of funds and high tariffs on importing Western equipment kept the later TU-154Ms in service well beyond their use by dates, even with Aeroflot. That was a big bonus for enthusiasts as the type was one of only two Russian aircraft (the other is the IL-96), until the recent Sukhoi Superjet, to get into the beautiful 2003 era colours of the national airline and its affiliates.

Romanian Glasnost: TAROM in the 60s and 70s

29/11/2014

February 1946 saw the initiation of services by the joint Soviet/Romanian airline TARS which was renamed TAROM in 1954 when the Romanians became full owners. TAROM was unusual amongst Warsaw Pact nations in that it was able to purchase western types (though LOT did have Viscounts). This followed the 1965 coming to power of Nicolae Ceausescu who conducted Romania's foreign policy independently of Russia - not taking part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, establishing diplomatic ties with Israel and West Germany etc. Needless to say Ceausescu's moderate start didn't last but that's another topic.

Within aviation Romania's new independence first became visible in 1968 when One-elevens were ordered for European and Middle-Eastern destinations instead of TU-134s.