Civil aviation Transport in the Soviet Union

area in front of airport building, dnepropetrovsk, ukraine, 1974.

the ministry of civil aviation was, according air code of ussr, responsible air transport enterprises , airlines established it. soviet civil air transport largest total destinations , vehicles during of post-war existence. in ussr, aeroflot had monopoly on air transport. ranged civil transport , cargo transporting political prisoners gulags, , more.

the soviet union covered on 1 sixth of entire earth s landmass, , in 1920s government decided invest in aviation industry. concluded expanding in soviet union not make travel more efficient , faster, build , develop farmland, enormously spread out nation was. @ time, travel required taking trains (or, case, off-road travel in cars, buses or trucks). many of northern , eastern territories in soviet union inaccessible during of year; of these vast expanses of land lacked roads , railroads because of huge distances between them , nearest population centers. practically uninhabitable weather made travel , construction impossible. absence of surface transportation facilities meant little equipment available use road construction—making process more daunting. consequently, soviet government, eager save money in transportation sector, concluded building series of airports scattered throughout more desolate , isolated parts of country far more economically efficient build thousands of miles of roads (and/or railroads) automobile/train travel. air travel best means of transportation people , cargo. first, fleet necessary; between 1928 , 1932, number of aircraft manufacturing facilities grew twelve thirty-one, while nation s annual output of airplanes increased mere 608 2,509. after combining number of existing fleets, soviet government founded national airline , air service of soviet union, renaming ussr civil air fleet aeroflot.

aeroflot, @ formation in march 1932, had 3 main purposes. were: operate , maintain air transportation system, provide different types of services (such aerial surveying, forest-fire fighting, , agricultural spraying) , promote educational, recreational, athletic , other such activities public. aeroflot, literally translates or air fleet, consisted of amalgam of existing air transportation fleets in soviet union in 1920s. creating aeroflot, soviet government was, many industries in young soviet union @ time, expanding , centralizing fleets red air fleet. general public, aviation industry did not represent modernization; rather, represented means achieve modernization , future glory.

during joseph stalin s second five-year plan (1933-1938), communist party congress (and stalin himself) devised development , further expansion of aviation industry, making air transport 1 of primary means of transportation in soviet union. strategy involved creating network of cities , towns deliver people, whether politicians, military officials, prisoners or travelers, and, importantly, mail , freight. stalin recognized strong civil aviation sector supply necessary equipment , materials prisoners in gulag, increasing efficiency , production output. 1933, soviet aviation delegations , engineers, long 6 months @ time, regular visitors @ united states prominent aircraft developers, such boeing, douglas, pratt & whitney , curtiss-wright (to name few). these engineers play key role in origins of soviet aircraft manufacturer, ilyushin. of soviet union s existence, air travel served deliver freight. in 1930s, freight made 85 percent of aeroflot s services. in fact, @ time, air travel in soviet union existed less of means travel, rather way government develop remote areas of nation industrialization needs , resource acquisition. public flew flights expensive (350 rubles—maybe half of workers monthly salary) , service poor.

aeroflot, single state owned , governed airline, operated without competitors , expanded according soviet central government , central planning. beginning of world war ii, aeroflot, , entirety of soviet civil aviation industry, domestic freight carrier. in fact, in 1939, surpassed u.s. in volume of airfreight. despite stalin s strong xenophobia, aeroflot commenced first international route in 1936, operating between moscow , prague. after world war ii, soviet government wanted continue expansion starting , increasing services moscow capitals of other soviet republics. ever-growing soviet air transportation network began shrink railroad s importance in soviet nations. years passed, soviet regime recognized aviation industry s increasing value, , officials in transportation planning attempted establish regular air service every city in union. 1968, after soviet engineers helped pioneer introduction of jets , jet age, aeroflot , subsidiaries served 3,500 cities. @ time, thirty largest soviet cities connected cities population of 500,000 or more (including 80 percent of populations 100,000 499,999, , 60 percent of cities 50,000 99,999 people). joining these cities, infrastructure , industry benefitted heavily. jet age , introduction of new, faster , more reliable ways of air travel changed soviet aviation. jets not further shortened travel times; allowed nonstop service between cities had been otherwise out of reach nonstop flights. before jet age, longest nonstop service moscow yekaterinburg (sverdlovsk) (roughly 1,100 miles); sometime after introduction of jets, mail delivered moscow vladivostok (nearly 4,000 miles east), same day. soviet union put first jet in world service in 1956 on moscow irkutsk route (of 2,600 miles) using soviet built tupolev tu-104. soviet government established hubbing system unlike west; in soviet union, cities had direct link moscow. in united states, small cities (and still today) connected larger cities , airports; airlines use these larger airports—or hubs —to connect passengers flight , onto destination. because soviet union revolved around moscow, networking technique proved effective.

by 1980s, aeroflot had experienced massive growth in aviation market. carried 116.1 million passengers , millions of pounds of cargo. still, because of travel restrictions, 3.4 million passengers international travelers. airline remained entirely domestic carrier, getting freight , people far off remote cities, many of had been built stalin-era gulag prisoners. aeroflot remained in charge of other non-delivery or transportation services such as: ice patrol in arctic ocean , escorting of ships through frozen seas, oil exploration, power line surveillance, , transportation , heavy lifting support on construction projects. further, because every single non-military airplane permitted fly in soviet union registered aeroflot airframe, aeroflot suffered worst safety reputation in worldwide industry, recording between 4 hundred , 5 hundred incidents since creation in 1932. many blamed ilyushin , engineers airplanes poorer reliability when compared western counterparts—namely boeing, mcdonnell douglas , airbus.

by mid-late 1980s, aeroflot s domestic flights noted consistently harrowing experiences both western , soviet passengers. @ airport, passengers complained of long waits, poor , indifferent service @ ticket offices, poorly designed , set waiting areas @ airport terminals coupled inadequate food , toilet facilities. on board, passengers complained of being forced sit in hot airplane cabins without air conditioning , , indifferent cabin crews.

air traffic in russia, 1970-2015

by time mikhail gorbachev introduced perestroika , reforms, permitting free speech , pluralism, aeroflot had shown considerable growth. in 1950, air transportation accounted 1.2 percent of total passenger transportation turnover in soviet union, yet, 1987, air travel accounted 18.7 of that. continues growing today. after soviet union broke up, boris yeltsin ushered in new, free market economy. foreign airlines permitted land in russia , aeroflot split several sectors, including today s airline bears same name. became privatized company, , other airlines found way russian spotlight. transaero airlines , s7 (sibir) airlines commenced operations in mid-1992. in 1993, transaero became first russian aircraft operator receive boeing airplanes. transaero operated 3 russian built tu-124 airplanes, rest of fleet consists of boeing types (747, 777, 767)—modernizing , westernizing russian aviation. s7, though operating more soviet-built airplanes, fly airbus , boeing types. aeroflot, too, followed suit. beginning in 1994, aeroflot began taking deliveries of western airplanes. aeroflot uses airbus , boeing fleet on western routes encourage western passenger travel. in 2006, aeroflot joined global airline alliance skyteam, , in 2010, s7 joined different global alliance, oneworld. soviet aviation industry has unequivocally shifted adapt more modern , western philosophies of air travel, although inventive soviet style of air transportation helped build russia, industries , widespread global influence today.

airports

the soviet union had 7,192 airports, of 1,163 had paved surface. 1980s airports having capacity problems, example being lviv airport had cope average of 840 passengers each day, while airport built handle 200. daunting problem lack of modernisation, sheremetyevo international airport (moscow s main airport) being airport in ussr have been computerised.