DUSHANBE, February 14, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajik national air carrier, Tajik Air, announces the sale of its three TU-154s and one Yak-40.
The source at Tajik Air says the national air carrier has made the decision to sell these aircraft in connection with renewal of its air fleet.
“It is the first experience for Tajik Air to sell its Soviet type aircraft,” said the source, “Any company or private individual may buy them. The price will be discussed after the company receives an appropriate application from the interested party.”
According to him, the aircraft are in running order, but they will outlive their service life in 2011.
In addition to TU-154Ms and Yak-40, the Tajik Air fleet now includes one Boeing 757-200, two Boeing 377-500s, two Boeing 737-200s, two Antonov-28s ad helicopters MI-8MTB, Mi-172 and Mi-8T.
The Yakovlev Yak-40 is a small, three-engine airliner that is often called the first regional jet transport aircraft. It was introduced in September 1968 with Aeroflot. The Yak-40 was developed to meet a desire by Aeroflot to replace the Ilyushin Il-12, Il-14 and Lisunov Li-2, which, along with the An-2 biplane, served Aeroflot”s regional and local routes. The design evolved into a relatively slow jet transport, though this idea seemed to offer the best merger of simplicity, reliability, and low purchase and operating costs. Among the designs features was a 30,000-hour operating life, independence of sophisticated airport facilities, and the ability to meet foreign certification requirements. By the time production ended in 1981 the factory in Saratov had produced 1,011 aircraft. According to Wikipedia, a total of 130 aircraft were exported to Afghanistan, Angola, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Laos, Madagascar, Poland, Syria, Vietnam, Yugoslavia and Zambia. .
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range airliner designed in the mid 1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. With a cruising speed of 975 kilometers per hour, the Tu-154 is one of the fastest civilian aircraft in operation and has a range of 5,280 kilometers.
Wikipedia reports that in January 2010, Russian flag carrier Aeroflot announced the retirement of its Tu-154 fleet after 40 years with the last flight operated being Aeroflot Flight 736 from Yekaterinburg to Moscow on December 2009. In December 2010, airlines of some former Soviet also declared that they will cease to operate TU-154s from 2011. The Tu-154 was developed to meet Aeroflot”s requirement to replace the jet-powered Tu-104, the Antonov An-10 ”Ukraine” and the Ilyushin Il-18 turboprops. Many variants of this airliner have been built. Like its western counterpart, the 727, many of the Tu-154s in service have been hush-kitted, and some converted to freighters. As of 10 June 2010 a total of 200 Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft (all variants) remained in airline service.
