Aeroflot

Aeroflot — Russian International Airlines (Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские междунаро́дные авиали́нии), or Aeroflot (Аэрофло́т), is a Russian airline that was formerly the national airline of the Soviet Union. Its passenger operations are from Sheremetyevo International Airport and its cargo operations are from Domodedovo International Airport. Both airports are located near Moscow, Russia. As of 2004, Aeroflot flies to 88 foreign destinations in 54 countries; it carried 5.8 million passengers in 2003.

History

Aeroflot has a complex history, and most of it has been shaped by world changes outside the airline's company structure. Aeroflot, like Cubana de Aviación, had to stop flying into the United States during the Cold War, and many of its records were kept secret by the old Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, Aeroflot 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.

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 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. 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, 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 Boeing 767 jet planes. After this makeover, Aeroflot's safe flights rate is currently 99.94 percent.

Recent developments

Unlike many Russian companies, Aeroflot has been able to avoid the post-Communism economic slump that the country has had to deal with, and has become a safe and reliable international airline whose safety standards match the highest requirements. On May 24, 2004 Air France CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta travelled to Moscow to announce Aeroflot's entry into SkyTeam alliance which will take place in 2005.

Other facts of interest

• Following the break up of the USSR the Soviet Aeroflot was divided into dozens of airlines, of which the current Aeroflot Russian Airlines is the biggest one. 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.

• President Boris Yeltsin usually used Aeroflot for official travel.

• In the 2000s Aeroflot hired British consultants to rebrand the airline. A new livery and uniforms were designed and service improved. Plans were afoot to get rid of the old Soviet-era logo complete with hammer and sickle as well but finally it was decided to keep it. While most Russians are absolutely neutral about it or even like the logo for its retro look, some people in the West find it an uncomfortable reminder of the old Soviet era.

• President Vladimir Putin's wife is a former Aeroflot flight attendant.

External links

• Aeroflot