According to Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, Aeroflot's board of directors met on the 31st of January and decided that the airline will retire its Soviet-built aircraft by 2010. This means that the Tu-134 and Tu-154 will have to leave soon. Those will all be replaced by Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Airbus A320s, and Sukhoi's Russian Regional Jet (RRJ). At the same time, however, the airline will take delivery of more Il-96s. The article mentioned that Il-96s will go too, but I don't think that's the case - they're new, and not Soviet-built.
Personally, I think that this is a big loss. From an economical standpoint it makes sense, since those Soviet planes are gas guzzlers and overall inefficient. But I have yet to fly on one and I do believe that my time's running out.
(By the way, if anyone can correct the info regarding the Il-96, that'd be great.)
3 comments:
I have flown on TU-154s run by Iran Airtours in Iran from Tehran to Mashad.
I quite like Iranair, but I always try to get on one of their Airbuses -- you are not missing much if you never get to fly on a Tuploev!
Great blog! Thank you.
Moyey
Thanks for the comment! Yes, I've heard that I'm not missing much, and that Boeings and Airbuses are much more comfortable and perform better. Still, I'd like to be able to fly on a Tupolev before they're gone.
Thanks again for reading and commenting!
it's still a load of rumors going on about tu-154....i was lucky to use this machines many times in the past and i can assure you that they most comfortable and most reliable airplanes world ever seen.they may be not fuel efficient[3 engines] but safe and long lasting[some was built 1971-1974 still was operating.so folks hurry up to get on the last [aeroflot] tu-154 for that unforgettable expirience
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