Aeroflot

Aeroflot was founded on February 9, 1923, under the name Dobrolet. In 1932 it became Aeroflot, the state airline of the Soviet Union. For decades it was the biggest airline on earth by any measure. At its peak it carried well over 100 million passengers in a single year. It worked across eleven time zones, dusting crops, carrying patients, and supplying research bases in Antarctica.

Aeroflot began the world's first lasting jet service with the Tupolev Tu-104 in 1956. Later it flew the Tu-144, which was supersonic, meaning faster than sound. When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, the giant split into hundreds of small regional airlines nicknamed 'Babyflots'. Aeroflot itself kept the international routes. It rebuilt as Russia's flag carrier, the national airline, swapping Soviet planes for Airbus and Boeing jets.

In 2006 it joined SkyTeam, an alliance in which airlines share routes. Moscow Sheremetyevo became a big stop between Europe and Asia, and the state added Rossiya and low-cost Pobeda to the group. After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, trade bans cut off Western parts and SkyTeam suspended it. Aeroflot now flies mainly to Russia, Asia, the Middle East, and the CIS, a group of former Soviet states.

Aeroflot Group runs around 300 aircraft under the Aeroflot, Rossiya, and Pobeda names. The main fleet is built on Airbus A320-family and A330 jets plus Boeing 737-800s and 777-300ERs. Many were re-registered in Russia after 2022 sanctions upset their leases and parts supply.

The group is the largest user of the Russian-built Sukhoi Superjet 100, flown mostly by Rossiya. It has large orders for home-built Yakovlev MC-21 single-aisle jets and more Superjets as Russia replaces imports. Keeping the Western planes flying without help from their makers is now its hardest job.