By the early 1960s, Soviet international and internal trunk routes were served by Aeroflot, the state airline, using jet or turboprop powered airliners, but their local services, many of which operated from grass airfields, were served by obsolete piston-engine aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-12, Il-14 and Lisunov Li-2.

[5] The Yak-40 is a low-winged cantilever monoplane with unswept wings, a large T-tail and a retractable tricycle landing gear.

The aircraft has a large fin, which is swept back at an angle of 50 degrees to move the tailplane rearwards to compensate for the short rear fuselage.

[12] The first of five prototypes made its maiden flight on 21 October 1966,[9] with production being launched at the Saratov Aviation Plant in 1967 and Soviet type certification granted in 1968.

[citation needed] By the time production ended in November 1981, the factory at Saratov had produced 1,011 or 1,013 aircraft.

[citation needed] A total of 130 were exported to Afghanistan, Angola, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Laos, Madagascar, Philippines, Poland, Syria, Vietnam, Yugoslavia and Zambia.

[20] The airworthiness of several Yak-40 of smaller Russian and Central Asian charter airlines is uncertain, as is the whereabouts of one Air Libya Tibesti aircraft after the civil war.

Known operators are:[21] As of November 2012 no more than 17 Yak-40 remain in military service (possibly fewer, with the unclear situation in Syria).