Farewell to Tu-154
Russian Alrosa Airlines has withdrawn its Tu-154 from service. Hence, North Korea’s Air Koryo now remains the last civilian operator of the trijet that was introduced in 1968. The airline apparently uses the aircraft for domestic flights. The Tu-154 continues to be deployed by a number of military operators as well.
As requested by the customer from Moscow, the Tu-154 was intended to replace the Tu-104, An-10 and Il-18. The Tu-154S for example could accommodate nine soviet pallets and 20 t of freight. After 1990, the German federal ministry of defence took over two Tu-154M from the GDR.
One of these collided with a C-141 of the US air force west of Namibia, killing all 24 members of the crew. After several detours the other Tu-154M reached Iran, where it remained in service until a flight ban on all Tu-154 registered in the country was imposed in 2011 because they were deemed to be unreliable and unsafe. (ah)