Aeroflot
Soviet Air Transport Since 1923
MacDonald, Hugh
First edition
This book tells in great detail the story of Soviel civil air transport and in particular the contribution of the Soviet airline Aeroflot.
Aeroflot, although responsible for a much wider range of duties than airlines elsewhere, is vvithoul question the world's biggest carrier of air passengers and cargo - its 1973 target was 87 million passengers and 2,100,000 tonnes of cargo to be carried over a route network of some 820,000 km. Its fleet runs into thousands and ranges from light single-engined aeroplanes and helicopters up lo large three- and four-engined jet transports and some of the world's largest and heaviest helicopters.
The Soviet Union has maintained strict secrecy over much of its air transport operations, but pains-taking study of published facts, mostly in Soviet publications, does reveal much of this massive air transport undertaking, and the author has spent many years in making such a study.
He has related the Soviet air transport effort to the country's vast terrain, its climate and its economy, and gives very detailed accounts of the operations of the various regional directorates of Aeroflot. He has compared the times taken by surface transport and air transport and provides information on Aeroflot's fare structure.
This work is comprehensively illustrated with photographs, but of even greater value are the more than 30 tables and numerous appendices which form the most detailed survey ever published on Soviet air transport working. The production of this invaluable reference material, together with its unique maps, is a significant achievement, when it is remembered that the operations of Aeroflot are so vast that they could not be shown in a single time-table of manageable proportions and that a map showing all scheduled routes would probably require an area equal to the wall of a hangar.
Hardcover with dust jacket
323 Seiten / pages
many photos, maps and tables
book very good condition, dust jacket good condition
London - 1975 - Putnam
Art.Nr. 24998
