Tupolev Tu-154
 Tupolev Tu-154. Photo: see the file page on Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
| |
| Make | Tupolev |
|---|---|
| Model | Tupolev Tu-154 |
| Type | Narrow-body jet airliner |
| Country |  Soviet Union and Russian Federation
|
| First flight | 4 October 1968 |
| Built | 1968–1997 (last aircraft delivered in 2013) |
| Status | In limited service |
| Number built | 1,026
|
| More aircraft · For sale | |
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine, medium-range Soviet jet airliner designed in the mid-1960s, the workhorse of Soviet and Russian airlines for decades.[1] In 1990 it carried half of all Aeroflot's passengers, and it remained the standard domestic airliner of Russia and other former Soviet states until the mid-2000s. In all, 1,026 were built.[1] None are on the U.S. civil register.[2]
History
The Tu-154 was built to replace Aeroflot's Tu-104 jets and its An-10 and Il-18 turboprops.[1] It is similar in concept to the British Hawker Siddeley Trident and the Boeing 727.[1] It first flew on October 4, 1968, and entered service with Aeroflot on February 7, 1972.[1] It went to 17 airlines outside Russia and served several air forces as a government transport.[1]
It could fly from unpaved and gravel airfields with only basic facilities, so it was widely used in Russia's Arctic north and east, where other airliners could not operate.[1] Newer noise rules later kept it out of Western Europe.[1] NATO called it "Careless".[1]
Key figures
Photos
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East Line Airlines Tupolev Tu-154M. Photo: Pedro Aragão, CC BY-SA 3.0 -
Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-154B2. Photo: Kirill Naumenko, CC BY-SA 3.0 -
Tu-154M for the Russian Air Force is under construction on the Aviakor plant in Samara. Photo: Fyodor Borisov, CC BY-SA 3.0 -
Tupolev Tu-154. Photo: Fedor Leukhin, CC BY-SA 2.0 -
Tupolev Tu-154. Photo: DAVID HOLT from London, England, CC BY-SA 2.0 -
Tupolev Tu-154. Photo: Aleksandr Markin, CC BY-SA 2.0 -
Budapest, Aeropark Múzeum, Tupolev-154 B-2 (HA-LCG). Photo: Christo, CC BY-SA 4.0
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All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; click a photo for its full credit and license.
Buying a Tupolev Tu-154
Sources
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Wikipedia, "Tupolev Tu-154", read November 1, 2026. Airplane Wiki's text is written in its own words; facts are checked against this article and its sources.
- ↑ Federal Aviation Administration, Releasable Aircraft Database, file dated October 30, 2026. Valid registrations of fixed-wing airplanes whose FAA maker and model names belong to this family. Airplane Wiki uses only counts from this file, never owner names or addresses.