First sustained jet airline service
Who
Aeroflot
What
first
Where
Russian Federation (Moscow)
When
The first sustained jet airline service was provided by the Russian airline Aeroflot on an internal route system – Moscow – Omsk - Irkutsk, which began on 15 September 1956 cutting the journey time from 18 to 7 hours. The aircraft used was the Tupolev Tu-104 “Camel”. It was the second jet-powered airliner to enter service after the de Havilland Comet. It had a maximum take-off weight of 167,550lbs (76,000kg), a cruising speed of 513 knots (950km/hr) and a range of 1,430 nautical miles (2,650 km). About 200 aircraft were built by the time production ended in 1960, and the type continued in civil service with Aeroflot until 1981.