TU154Ms into UK
 

Hi,
Anyone out there know where I can locate statistics of various aircraft types by UK airport ? For example how often Tu154Ms operate into UK ?
Many thanks, pp.

Weren't these Tupelovs pulled from service...
 

Or maybe it was just in Russia. I flew several times in the 1990s on Vietnam Airlines Tu-154s. One 154 had a quaint touch with wooden cabinets for storage near seats.
The sturdy-look of the 154 made me think of Sturmovik Il-2 "flying tank" of WWII fame. There was a VN Airlines Tupelov, a 154, I think, crash near Phnom Penh in 1997. I think VN Airlines pulled the Tupelovs from their inventory soon after.

Russian CAA have stopped all TU154B flights after recent Kogalym Avia TU154B accident. Not sure what's the status now.

TU154M are permitted to EU/UK. I remember Atlant Soyuz flew to Luton in December with their TU154M VIP with a Russian football team (Spartak I think).

The only issue they had was a late night departure (may be something else that I'm not aware of)

Pulkovo / Rossiya Airlines used to fly to LGW with their TU154M before they got B737s and A320s. Even after they got B737 they were using TU154M sometimes.

Pretty sure that Krygystan Airlines used these into BHX for a while in the 90's (?) on weekly scheduled flights from Bishkek, they made a right racket on take off!! Ah the memories!! No idea if any airline uses them regularly now into the UK would love to see one again.

Balkan used to fly them into DSA until about two or three years ago. They have now been replaced by A320s. Not sure if they still fly 154s to the UK or indeed if they have even retired the fleet.

Im pretty sure Balken used to fly the 154 into Manchester upto a few years ago, I remember my parents flying with them over 20 years ago and comparing it to a truck. They also had the good fortune to fly the 134s of Aviogenex

Yes indeed, good fortune to still be around to tell the tale. Aviogenex wrote-off two of their first four TU134's if my memory is correct.

A long time ago, you could go to Heathrow and see 154s from.
LOT, Malev, Tarom, Hungary, Aeroflot, Balkan. At the most now you might see the Slovak government one.

Yes the parents are still around (well one of them is) to recount thier TU134 stories. At Manchester we used to get 154s from Aeroflot as well, I remember they always had a member of the crew on the tarmac all the time the aircraft was on the ground.

We used to get 134s from LOT as well as the odd IL18 and then there was the Sat morning Tarom IL62 flight as well

Not the UK but ........Many Many TU154's operated into and out of SNN for years during the 80's and 90's from Moscow, Minsk, Kiev and St Petersburg. They fed into Soviet and early post Soviet Aeroflot's hub operation there which continued onto Miami, Washington, Chicago, Cancun, Mexico city and Havana. After Soviet Aeroflot was broken up the operation continued by the new airlines who were created such as Belavia, Air Ukraine etc

I may be mistaken, but when RVSM (reduced vertical separation minima) was introduced into Europe (2002), Tu154s were not certified, as not having the required accuracy of altitude measuring equipment.

Consequently they would have to fly below RVSM airspace. i.e. no higher than fl270. I guess this would tend to make already pretty dire operating economics even worse.

Ah remember those days in the 1990's well at MAN......saturday charters with TU154's from Balkan and Tarom and the sunday (and occasionally!) friday scheduled service from Aeroflot. I think the last ones we've seen at MAN were a couple of years ago on the weekly Belavia summer schedule from Minsk..... but last few summers have seen just the 737 operating this flight.

Many thanks for all your replies on this one. So I'll take it that its not likely to see one these days unless Putin or similar VIP comes in on a special permit ?

I heard elsewhere that Belavia still flies regularly into LGW, but using B737s, I guess therefore they won't use the 154s if the 737 goes duff ?

pp

Can confirm, having trawled throuth the OAG database (320k records!) there are no remaining scheduled Tu154 ops West of Russia/Ukraine/Istanbul.

The things you do on a quiet afternoon ...

Putin / Medvedev both fly IL-96-300 and in rare cases TU-204PU... and even rarely brand new Falcon 7X (they have two)

you may have a chance to see TU154 in the UK is another Atlant Soyuz charter with their TU154M VIP with some one of Russian football teams. Although, I heard that Atlant Soyuz has stopped all scheduled flights at the moment and apparently the company is going down, so I'm not sure if their VIP aircraft will be transferred to another AOC or not.

and by the way, TU154M does not need a "special permit" to fly to EU/UK. They just need to make sure there is a TU154 towbar at the airport, otherwise they will have to bring one with them.

Hi AlexisDetroit

I dont think Vietnam Airlines operated TU-154s,maybe it is their TU-134s that you flew on,however I stand to be corrected on this.:ok:

Hi

A couple of years ago I did a day trip to MUC and Ural Airlines sent in a 154 instead of the booked A320,i was well chuffed until I read it off as the same one I had seen in BCN a few months earlier,still got a magic picture though.BCN is good during the summer for the odd 154,when I went I saw that Ural one,Tartasan,Belavia and 2 Rossyia,it was Sep 2008.I expect its nearly all western aircrat now.Antalya is also good for 154's.

Cheers

Martin

I turned up recently to fly from Moscow to Volgograd and return expecting an exotic Tupolev or Ilyushin and got a Boeing 737 both ways. BUGGER!!!!

I flew on a tu-154 with Siberian Airlines in 2004 (Moscow - Minvody)

Pretty sure Pulkovo used operate a 154 into Heathrow on Saturday mornings up until quite recently