35 Facts About Aeroflot

Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo International Airport.

From its inception to the early 1990s, Aeroflot was the flag carrier and a state-owned enterprise of the Soviet Union.

Aeroflot shrank the fleet dramatically while at the same time purchasing Western aircraft and newer domestic models and focusing on expanding its international market share before moving to boost its domestic market share.

Aeroflot formerly had a cargo subsidiary named Aeroflot-Cargo, though the branch later merged with the parent airline.

Aeroflot became a member of SkyTeam in April 2006, making it the first carrier in the former Soviet Union to do so.

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In 2022, SkyTeam and Aeroflot agreed to temporarily suspend the airline's membership, one of many corporate responses to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Aeroflot designed posters encouraging citizens to buy stock in Dobrolet and the famous "Winged Hammer and Sickle" logo still used by Aeroflot.

Responsibility for all civil aviation activities in the Soviet Union came under the control of the Chief Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet on 25 February 1932, and on 25 March 1932 the name "Aeroflot" was officially adopted for the entire Soviet Civil Air Fleet.

On that date Aeroflot began operations on the Moscow to Stockholm route, and began operating the ex-Deruluft route from Leningrad to Riga utilising Douglas DC-3s and Tupolev ANT-35s.

Aeroflot aircraft, including PS-35s and PS-43s, were based at Moscow's Central Airport; and important missions undertaken by Aeroflot aircraft and crews included flying supplies to the besieged cities of Leningrad, Kyiv, Odessa and Sevastopol.

Aeroflot had by the end of 1945 carried 537,000 passengers, compared with 359,000 in 1940.

The Ilyushin Il-12 entered service on Aeroflot's all-Union scheduled routes on 22 August 1947, and supplemented already existing Li-2 services.

Aeroflot introduced the Antonov An-10 and Ilyushin Il-18 in 1959, and together with its existing jet aircraft, the airline was able to extend services on modern aircraft to twenty one cities during 1960.

The expansion of the Aeroflot fleet saw services with modern aircraft being extended to forty one cities in 1961, with fifty percent of all-Union services being operated by these aircraft.

Statistics for the same year showed Aeroflot operating an all-Union route network extending over 400,000 kilometres, and carrying 36,800,000 passengers.

Pan Am accused the Soviets of illegally siphoning away Moscow-to-New York passengers, whilst in turn; Aeroflot accused US consular officials in Russia of having steered passengers to Pan Am flights.

At the start of the 1990s Aeroflot reorganised again giving more autonomy to territorial divisions.

REG Davies, former curator of the Smithsonian Institution, claims that by 1992 Aeroflot had over 600,000 people operating over 10,000 aircraft.

Aeroflot performed other functions, including air ambulance; aerial application; heavy lifting for the Soviet Space Agency; offshore oil platform support; exploration and aeromagnetic survey for natural resources; support for construction projects; transport of military troops and supplies ; atmospheric research; and remote area patrol.

Aeroflot was responsible for such services as ice patrol in the Arctic Ocean and escorting of ships through frozen seas; oil exploration; power line surveillance; and transportation and heavy lifting support on construction projects.

The medium- and long-range passenger- and cargo aircraft of Aeroflot were part of the strategic air transport reserve, ready to provide immediate airlift support to the armed forces.

In 1992 Aeroflot was divided into a number of regional airlines, whereas international routes were operated by ARIA.

Smaller regional airlines which emerged from the old Aeroflot were sometimes referred to as Babyflots; Bashkirian Airlines, Krasnoyarsk Airlines, Moscow Airways and Tatarstan Airlines were among the carriers that were formed from former Aeroflot directorates.

The Aeroflot fleet shrank dramatically in the post-Soviet era, dropping from 5,400 planes in 1991 to 115 in 1996.

Since the dissolution, Aeroflot has been actively working towards promoting and redefining itself as a safe and reliable airline.

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Aeroflot began working with the US travel technology firm Sabre Corporation in 1997, and in 2004 signed an agreement to use Sabre's software as its new Reservation System, further extending the relationship with Sabre in 2010.

In June 2013, during the World Airline Awards which took place at the 50th Le Bourget air show, Aeroflot was awarded the international prize as the best air carrier in Eastern Europe.

Aeroflot filed both Donavia and Orenair for bankruptcy in January 2017.

On 5 March 2022, Aeroflot announced that with effect from 8 March it would be suspending all international flights except Minsk, to avoid any possible seizures of foreign-leased aircraft.

On 11 April 2022 the European Commission declared that Aeroflot will be banned from flying in the European Union because it does not meet international safety standards.

Headquarters of Aeroflot are in Arbat District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow.

At that time, the Aeroflot Group employed 30,328; 17,678 of these people worked for Aeroflot JSC.

The Aeroflot Group, comprising Aeroflot Airline, Aurora, Pobeda and Rossiya, carried 55.

Aeroflot is a member of SkyTeam, first signing a Memorandum of Understanding on 24 May 2004 and becoming a full member in April 2006.

On 27 April 2022, SkyTeam and Aeroflot agreed to temporarily suspend the airline's membership.