MOSCOW: The Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, a flagship model of Soviet aviation, flew its final passenger flight on Wednesday, Russian airline Alrosa said. The three-engine medium-haul aircraft carried out its first commercial flight in 1972, and was the workhorse of the Soviet and then Russian domestic aviation from the 1980s to the mid-2000s.
“We are saddened to announce the end of operations of the only remaining Tu-154 aircraft in Russia’s civil aviation,” Alrosa said in a statement.
This last commercial flight carried 140 passengers from the Far Eastern town of Mirny, known as Russia’s “diamond capital”, to Novosibirsk in Western Siberia.
“Thank you Tu-154...” Alrosa said in a video posted on social media.
“A whole era of national aircraft construction is ending with this legendary aircraft,” the airline added.
Tupolev discontinued production of the model in 2013. A few of the aircraft are still operated by the defence ministry.—AFP
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.