Aeroflot fleet
[2] As a result of International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the company has ordered over 300 Russian-made jets and plans on making the Yakovlev MC-21 its flagship plane,[1][2] with deliveries expected to start in 2025 or 2026.
[citation needed] Aeroflot began operating the Tupolev Tu-104, reportedly named Silver Arrow,[29] with at least three in service between Moscow and the Russian Far East by June 1956 (1956-06).
The Tupolev Tu-114, originally used to transport Soviet leaders and once the world's largest commercial aircraft, came into service on 24 April 1961 (1961-04-24) on the Moscow–Khabarovsk route.
[34][36] The first Ilyushin Il-62 long-range four-engined airliner entered service with Aeroflot in 1967, with an inaugural flight from Moscow to Montreal on 15 September.
[38] On 1 November 1977 (1977-11-01), the aircraft was deployed on the 1,750-nautical-mile (3,240 km; 2,010 mi) long Moscow-Domodedovo–Alma-Ata route on a regular basis,[39] yet these services were discontinued in May 1978 (1978-05).
[40] That month, an aircraft of the type was written off after an emergency landing following an electrical failure, withdrawing political support to the project and putting an end to the production.
[28] The 350-seater Ilyushin Il-86, the first Russian-made wide-body aircraft,[44] had its maiden flight in December 1976 (1976-12),[28][45] and entered scheduled services with the carrier on the Moscow-Vnukovo–Tashkent run in 1981.
[49][50] The first example of the Ilyushin Il-96, which was also the first Soviet fly-by-wire aircraft, had its maiden flight in 1988, and was certificated in December 1992 (1992-12);[47] the first Aeroflot Il-96-300 entered the fleet in 1993,[21] and was initially deployed on the Moscow–New York City route in July that year.
This coincided with the United States imposing sanctions on various Russian companies (including a major aircraft maker, Sukhoi) for allegedly supplying Iran in violation of the US's Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 and with the Russian state-owned Vneshtorgbank buying 5% of the stock in EADS, the corporation behind Airbus.
[69] Despite the A330s having been initially aimed at providing interim capacity ahead of the arrival of both the Airbus A350s and the Boeing 787s the company had previously ordered, the type has been gradually incorporated into the fleet on a long-term basis.
[70] In May 2007 (2007-05), Finnair announced the sale of its last two self-owned McDonnell Douglas MD-11s to Aeroflot which became part of the Russian airline's cargo fleet in 2008 and 2009.
[73] The retirement of the last Tupolev Tu-154 occurred on 14 January 2010, after 40 years of service; the last flight the type operated was Yekaterinburg–Moscow, taking place on 31 December 2009.
To avoid delivery delays, the first 10 SSJ100s were delivered with the original "light" specification; subsequent aircraft were updated ("full").
[79] Also in July 2010 (2010-07), Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin pressured Aeroflot to buy Russian-made aircraft for future expansion and fleet renewal.
[86] Aeroflot retired its three McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighters from active service in July 2013 (2013-07) citing their operation as no longer profitable.
[93] One month later, the airliner then approved plans to purchase additional 6 new Boeing 777-300ER to significantly strengthen the long-haul capabilities of its fleet, with deliveries of the aircraft scheduled from 2Q 2018 to 1Q 2019.
[101] As of July 2022, Aeroflot ended its own Sukhoi Superjet 100 operations as these had all gradually been transferred to subsidiary Rossiya Airlines.
