Memorable dates
ELISEEV Sergey Pavlovich- retired colonel, candidate historical sciences(Moscow. E-mail: [email protected])
About two dates for celebrating Military Day air force Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and Air Fleet Day of the USSR
To the 100th anniversary of the creation of domestic aviation
On August 12, 2012, Russia will celebrate its centenary Air Force Armed Forces RF. Which historical events hundred years ago what caused this? After all, it is known that the first military pilots appeared in Russia already in 1910, and a year later the first aviation units appeared. Why does Russian Air Force Day fall on last month summer, why was this date chosen? The answers to these questions are related to the history of the development of aviation in our country.
IN Soviet times From 1933 to 1972, August 181 was celebrated as USSR Air Fleet Day. About its establishment in No. 6 of the Vestnik magazine air fleet"The following was reported for 1933:
“On the recommendation of the Chief of the Military Air Forces of the Red Army, Comrade Alksnis, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR initiated a petition to the Government to establish an Air Fleet Holiday Day.
The Council adopted a resolution on this matter people's commissars USSR, according to which during the day annual holiday The air fleet is scheduled for August 18.
The holiday is timed to coincide with the end of the summer period of combat training of the Air Force, which makes it possible to combine the holiday with a number of competitions in aviation technology, aerobatics, fire and tactical training.
Air Fleet Day can also be used to widely popularize the military and civil aviation among the working masses Soviet Union. At the massive aviation festival, in which the Red Army Air Force, Civil Air Fleet, Soviet aviation industry and Osoaviakhim should take part, achievements in the field of aviation technology and aviation construction will be demonstrated as a powerful means of socialist construction, technology development and strengthening air defense Soviet Union"2.
The resolution itself was found in one of the collections of the Russian State Library3. Noteworthy is the brevity of the text and the absence of any references to the documents that served as the reason for issuing this resolution of April 28, 1933, No. 859.
After the publication of this message, the Air Force of the Red Army, the Civil Air Fleet of the USSR, the Society for Assistance to Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction of the USSR, aviation industry enterprises and other institutions and institutions of the country began to prepare for the first celebration of Air Fleet Day. The most solemn and important event scheduled for August 18 was the holding of an aviation festival in Moscow, at the Central Airfield named after M.V. Frunze.
The first celebration of Air Fleet Day was held at a high organizational level. Muscovites, guests of the capital, representatives foreign countries. During the celebration, samples of Soviet aviation technology, the skill and courage of aviators were shown. The air parade was attended by members of the Soviet government and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, headed by I.V. Stalin. From this day on, August 18 became a national holiday, however, despite the fact that the Day of the “entire” Air Fleet was declared, that is, all aviation of the USSR, including aviation of the Navy, Civil Air Fleet, Osoaviakhim, etc., the Air Force of the Red Army and in number , and in terms of the variety of problems solved, they played a leading role in this holiday.
As the importance of other components of the USSR Air Fleet grew, USSR Civil Aviation Day (February 9), Navy Aviation Day, etc. appeared.
It would be logical to assume that the Air Force, called upon to solve combat missions on land, as well as maritime theaters war ( long-range aviation), they will want to have “their own” Day.
Responding to requests from military aviators, the President of the Russian Federation, by his decree No. 949 of August 29, 1997, declared the date August 12 as Air Force Day of the Armed Forces Russian Federation.
However, not everyone knows why this particular date was chosen. After all, the first military pilots appeared in Russia in the summer of 1910, and the first aviation detachments in 1911. The first demonstration of the capabilities of aviation technology in the capital - the “first aviation week” - took place in St. Petersburg in April 1910, and already in May, flight training for Russian aeronautical officers began in the newly created Aviation Department of the Officer Aeronautical School in Gatchina. Since 1914, the aviation department has become the Gatchina military aviation school.
In November 1910, near Sevastopol, on the banks of the river. Kacha, under the patronage of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the second aviation educational institution: Sevastopolskaya officer school aviation, but unlike Gatchina, it functioned on a voluntary basis. Therefore, aircraft for the Gatchina school were purchased abroad by the military department, and aircraft for the Sevastopol school were purchased there, but with voluntary donations from the population.
In 1911 Main engineering management(since 1913 - the Main Military-Technical Directorate - GVTU) created the first two aviation squads under aeronautical units. True, flights in them began only in 1912. Thus, the first sprouts of aviation arose in the Aeronautical Service, which belonged to the engineering troops.
However, on July 30 (new style - August 12), 1912, by order of the Minister of War (with the approval of Nicholas II) No. 397, aviation detachments were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Main Directorate General Staff(GU GS)4. This was a significant event, since aviation was officially recognized as an independent “Aviation Service”, performing reconnaissance and communications tasks in the troops, and independently of the Aeronautical Service.
As a result, from the experimental air squads attached to some aeronautical units, aviation became independent structural education with the corresponding position and states. To manage aviation and aeronautical units, in the fall of 1912, the Aeronautical Department was formed at the Main General Staff, which had an aviation and aeronautical department. Common name department - “aeronautics” should not disorient readers, since the concept of “aeronautics” meant (until about 1920) “flying through the air” in general, regardless of which aircraft, heavier or lighter than air, it was carried out.
Soon, at the end of 1913, decentralization of the control of aviation detachments took place: they were subordinated technically to the GVTU, and organizationally (primarily in terms of recruitment and combat use) to the Main Directorate of the General Staff. In connection with this reorganization, some aviators (and some aviation historians, including modern ones) had the opinion that aviation was again in engineering troops. In fact, according to the plans of the Russian General Staff, in the event of war, aviation detachments were supposed to go to the front and carry out combat reconnaissance and communications missions there, being operationally subordinate to the headquarters of the corps and armies. With the outbreak of the First World War, this is exactly what happened. Therefore, aviation has become the de facto genre ground forces.
But, despite this, the status of the Russian Air Force was still not strictly defined, which was one of the reasons for convening Aviation Congresses in the spring and summer of 1917, first soldiers’, and then general, with the participation of officers.
At the congresses it was recommended to celebrate Air Fleet Day on August 2, the Day of the Prophet Elijah. The Bolsheviks, having come to power, calling themselves “militant atheists”, began to oppose this date: it was not fitting for the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Air Force to celebrate its day on a religious holiday.
Therefore, in the twenties, “Aviation Day” began to be celebrated in July, most often timed to coincide with Bastille Day, that is, July 14.
After the first big show of aviation equipment, I.V. Stalin, and it happened on May 21, 1931, the newly appointed head of the Air Force Ya.I. Alksnis thanked the pilots for their excellent flights in front of the leaders of the party, country and army and for the first time called the pilots “ Stalin's falcons" And in fact, from that time on I.V. Stalin personally took over patronage Soviet aviation, which became the reason for defining it as “Stalinist”.
I.V. Stalin, realizing that a powerful Air Fleet is both the prestige of the country and education younger generation, instructed Ya.I. Alksnis to study the issue of writing new history aviation, in which the leading and guiding role of the Bolshevik Party in its creation was to be shown. It goes without saying that this story should not have mentioned the former chairman of the RVSR L.D. Trotsky and his role in the creation of the Soviet military aviation. Following the instructions of I.V. Stalin, Ya.I. Alksnis created a special historical group led by one of the organizers of the Red Air Fleet, M.P. Stroev. This group included former Chairman of the Bureau of Aviation and Aeronautics Commissioners A.V. Mozhaev, former member Collegium for the Management of the WF of the Republic of N.D. Anoshchenko and other participants in the creation of the RKKVVF in 1917-1920.
As a result of the work of the said commission at the end of 1932 - beginning of 1933, several publications about the creation of Soviet military aviation in 1917-1918 appeared in the "Bulletin of the Air Fleet". In addition, in the June 1933 issue of the magazine, in the “Chronicle of the USSR” section, a message was published, the contents of which are given at the beginning of this article.
Some historical documents say that the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, headed by K.E. Voroshilov, head of the Red Army Air Force Ya.I. Alksnis and the Air Force leadership, explaining the choice of this date, proceeded from the fact that the second half of August is the most the right time to celebrate Air Fleet Day, since around this time the Air Force ends summer period training in camps at field airfields and after joint exercises with ground forces, they return to their permanent place of deployment, where a holiday is held with the participation of not only the military, but also civil authorities and the public.<…>
The holiday was established both for military and civil aviators, as well as for the developers and creators of aircraft.
The first celebration of Air Fleet Day took place on August 18, 1933. On this day in Moscow, at the Central Airfield named after M.V. Frunze (on the territory of Khodynka Field) an aviation festival was held, during which samples of Soviet aviation technology, the skill and courage of aviators were shown. The air parade was attended by members of the Soviet government and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, headed by Stalin. From this day on, August 18 became a national holiday, however, despite the fact that the Day of the “entire” air fleet, that is, all aviation of the USSR, including aviation, was declared Navy, Civil Air Fleet, Society for Assistance to Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction of the USSR (Osoaviakhim), etc., The Air Force of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) played a leading role in this holiday both in numbers and in the variety of tasks solved.
Since 1935, air parades dedicated to the USSR Air Fleet Day have been held in Tushino on weekends, i.e. were not strictly tied to the day of August 18, but were sometimes postponed to another day or even canceled due to weather conditions.
After the Great Patriotic War air parades were not held every year, sometimes they were held in July (in 1951 - July 8, in 1952 - July 27). The last air parade in Tushino took place on July 9, 1961. Subsequently, aerial displays of new models of military and civil aircraft were held in Domodedovo. The last of them took place in 1967.
In the 1970s and 1980s, central air parades were not held. However, the tradition of holding air holidays, dedicated to the Day USSR Air Fleet, preserved on regional level. Annually air holidays were carried out in Zhukovsky (by test pilots of the M. M. Gromov Flight Research Institute), in Monino, in Kubinka and other aviation centers of the country.
Since 1972, the holiday has been celebrated on the third Sunday in August.
Officially, the postponement of the celebration of USSR Air Fleet Day to the third Sunday in August was legalized by a decree of the Presidium Supreme Council USSR dated October 1, 1980 “On holidays and memorable days.”
In 1997, military pilots had their own holiday - Air Force Day, celebrated on August 12. Therefore, since 1997, Air Fleet Day is professional holiday for teams of enterprises and organizations, workers and veterans of civil aviation.
Civil aviation in Russia began its development from the moment in February 1923, the Council of Labor and Defense of the RSFSR adopted a resolution “On the assignment of technical supervision of air lines to the Main Directorate of the Air Fleet and on the organization of the Council for Civil Aviation,” which marked the beginning of state regulation of activities air transport in the country.
In 1923, the first aviation society "Dobrolet" was created in Moscow to organize on a commercial basis the transportation of passengers, mail, aerial photography and other work. By June 1923, Dobrolet was equipped with the first regular passenger airline in the USSR Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1931 in Moscow at central airfield(Khodynskoye Pole) the country's first passenger air terminal opened. On February 25, 1932, the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet (GU Civil Air Fleet) was formed and the official abbreviated name of the country's civil aviation was established - Aeroflot. In 1932, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR approved the first Air Code of the USSR. In 1936, the USSR became a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
During the Great Patriotic War, aviators of the civil air fleet made a significant contribution to the victory over the enemy. Special units Aeroflot participated in combat operations. During the war years, pilots made more than one and a half million combat missions, of which about 40 thousand were behind enemy lines, transported 1.6 million people, and over 400 thousand tons of military cargo.
After the end of the war, the Soviet Union restored the destroyed civil aviation facilities and continued to develop a network of allied and local lines, building new air terminals and runways. Representatives of a new generation of aviation equipment began to take to Aeroflot routes.
In 1970, the USSR became a member International organization civil aviation (ICAO). Within the framework of this organization, Soviet specialists participated in the preparation of international legal norms related to liability for damage caused by an aircraft, contributed to the development of a convention on the rights and responsibilities of the pilot-in-command.
By the end of the 1980s, Aeroflot annually transported more than 120 million passengers, about three thousand tons of cargo, and over 400 thousand tons of mail.
Air transport accounted for up to 20% of the total passenger turnover of the USSR, and on long-distance routes (4 thousand kilometers or more) - over 80%. The share of air transportation in the country's cargo turnover was small (less than 0.1%). Civil aviation aircraft of the USSR performed regular flights to 4,000 cities and settlements Soviet Union and to airports of almost 100 foreign countries.
In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR and Russia’s declaration of sovereignty, the new stage in the history of domestic civil aviation. In the former Soviet republics and regions of Russia, their own airlines were created. Aeroflot ceased to be an all-Union structure and became one of several hundred airlines and production associations civil aviation.
In 1992, work began on industry restructuring, corporatization and privatization. Airline enterprises were divided into independent airports and airlines.
On March 19, 1997, the Air Code of the Russian Federation was adopted, establishing legal basis use of Russian airspace and aviation activities. In accordance with the code, federal rules for the use of airspace and federal aviation regulations have been developed.
Today, domestic civil aviation is demonstrating high growth rates, and the geography of flights of Russian airlines is expanding. Based on international and regional hub airports, a route network is being formed to meet the growing needs for mainline, regional and local air transportation of passengers and cargo.
As of 2016, 259 airfields were included in the register of civil aviation airfields of the Russian Federation, of which 81 airports are approved for international flights.
IN transport system civil aviation is an important component of the state. In 2015, Russian airlines transported about 92.1 million passengers and more than one million tons of cargo and mail.
During the first half of 2016, aviators transported about 38.1 million people and more than 436.9 thousand tons of cargo and mail.
In the life of Russia with its huge territory The importance of air transport is enormous. It ensures the mobility of people, solves the most important social objectives to supply residents of hard-to-reach areas with food, medicine and other essential items, promotes the development of business activity, and ensures interregional connections.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Day of Creation army aviation Russia was installed in recognition of the merits of military specialists in ensuring the security of our state. This holiday is celebrated by pilots, engineers, designers and many other specialists.
When is Army Aviation Day celebrated in 2016?
How is Army Aviation Day celebrated?
How is the celebration going? On the Day of the Creation of Russian Army Aviation, military parades and demonstrations are organized. amateur art concerts. Management presents awards to the best military specialists.
History and traditions of the Day of the Creation of Russian Army Aviation
The history and traditions of this army holiday are like that. On this day in 1948, the first aviation squadron equipped with helicopters was formed in Serpukhov near Moscow. Thus, the beginning of army aviation as a separate branch of the military was laid.
In 1990, army aviation became an independent branch of the military, in 2003 it was returned to the subordination of the Russian Air Force, and in 2010 it came under the jurisdiction of the Joint Strategic Commands “West”, “Center”, “East” and “South”.
Initially, it was an auxiliary branch of the military, mainly engaged in the transportation of goods, reconnaissance, and the creation of communications.
Now the tasks of army aviation are: supporting ground forces, performing important defense, strategic, reconnaissance and combat missions in hot spots in our country and abroad.
IN Peaceful time this branch of the military supports the implementation of combat training of ground forces. Not a single military exercise in our country is carried out without aviation support, the participation of combat and transport helicopters.
IN modern period In Russia, the main equipment of army aviation is helicopters. It is armed with several hundred types of helicopters, mostly domestic.
Every year the army helicopter fleet is expanding and modernizing. So, if in 2007 only 20 such machines were created, then in 2013 there were more than 120 of each modification.
Combat helicopters in modern Russia- these are perfect aircrafts high reliability and maneuverability. To operate such aircraft, pilots require considerable knowledge, skill and experience.
The Day of the Creation of Russian Army Aviation is intended to contribute to the revival and development of domestic military traditions, increasing the prestige of military service..
Despite the fact that since last year (2015) the Russian Air Force was merged with the Aerospace Defense Forces to create the Aerospace Forces (VKS), the day of the Russian Air Force as a professional holiday of all military pilots is celebrated on a large scale in our country. August 12 is an occasion to congratulate all representatives of various military aviation structures: long-range, army, operational-tactical and military transport aviation.
Today the Russian Air Force celebrates the 104th anniversary of its birth. The official date of the appearance of military aviation in our country is considered to be August 12, 1912, when a decree was issued, according to which the structure of the military department Russian Empire The staff of the aeronautical unit of the Main Directorate of the General Staff was introduced. And for 104 years of its existence Russian aviation has come a long way from airplanes whose speed can easily be exceeded modern car, to truly unique multi-purpose machines capable of conquering the air not only with the power of the available weapons, but also with the beauty of flight dynamics.
The importance of military aviation in the conditions of almost any modern armed conflict difficult to overestimate. Yes and obviously big problems will be observed in those who allow themselves to underestimate the capabilities of the Russian Air Force.
Literally at the first stage of the beginning of the participation of Russian military aviation in the operation against militants in Syria, there were exclamations from individual “specialists” speaking in the spirit that Russian aviation had been “breathing its last for a long time”, and that everything combat aircraft Russia at the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia - “flying scrap metal”. When this “aircraft scrap metal” began to dispose of terrorists of various stripes along with their infrastructure in various provinces of the Syrian Arab Republic, and when the Syrian government army, thanks Russian support recaptured significant territories from the militants from the air, including ancient Palmyra, exclamations filled with irony about Russia’s capabilities in the air began to thin out, and then disappeared completely. Today, an “expert” who is already rare in his technical literacy will allow himself to speak about Russian military aviation as something incapable of solving combat missions in the most different conditions. And even liberal “experts” made their contribution to such a reassessment of the state of affairs from the developers of combat vehicles, technicians servicing airplanes and helicopters at home airfields, and directly from the crews of fighters, attack aircraft, bombers, attack and military transport helicopters.
Nowadays, the Air Force, which is part of the Russian Aerospace Forces, is actively rearming, moving along the path of modernization. The latest multirole fighters Su-30SM, Su-35S, fighter-bombers Su-34, modernized attack aircraft Su-25SM3, fighter-interceptors MiG-31BM are entering service. Run-in, including in the composition aerobatic team“Wings of Taurida”, Yak-130 combat training aircraft are undergoing training. Russian Helicopters is fulfilling contracts to equip units and formations with Mi-28N, Ka-52 rotary-wing aircraft, etc. Testing of super-maneuverable MiG-35S fighters, as well as a promising aviation complex, continues front-line aviation(PAK FA) T-50, which belongs to the full fifth generation of military aircraft.
Russian military aviation carries out a colossal amount of work to ensure the security of Russia’s borders and to patrol remote regions of the planet in the interests of the Russian Federation. The number of flights of long-range and strategic aircraft is increasing every year. Over the past few weeks, Tu-22M3 long-range bombers have been actively striking positions of the terrorist group ISIS (banned in the Russian Federation) in Syria. Just the day before, high-explosive fragmentation bombs struck the outskirts of ISIS’s “capital” – the city of Raqqa in the province of the same name in Syria. Among the destroyed facilities was a production plant chemical substances for filling ammunition.
At the same time, combat training competitions are being held as part of the Aviadarts competition, which is attracting increasing attention not only from professional pilots, but also from the Russian and world public.
At the Ryazan Dubrovichi training ground, teams from four countries took part in competitions for military pilots and navigators: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and China. Russian pilots performed on Su-25SM, MiG-29SMT, Su-30SM, Su-35, Su-24M, Su-34, Tu-22M3, Il-76 aircraft, as well as on Mi-8, Mi-8AMTSh, Mi helicopters -24P and Ka-52. Largest number points (555.25) both among fighter aviation crews and in general were scored by the Su-30SM crew consisting of captain Ilya Sizov and captain Yuri Balashov. They got it highest score jury for piloting - 253 points. According to the results of the Aviadarts-2016 competition, the Russian national team took first overall team place, receiving 1st place in all four international nominations.
Despite their professional holiday, many representatives of Russian military aviation are still on combat duty as security guards. air borders Russia, and to destroy terrorist groups in Syria.
"Military Review" congratulates the military aviation personnel of Russia on the holiday!
The holiday was established both for military and civil aviators, as well as for the developers and creators of aircraft.
The first celebration of Air Fleet Day took place on August 18, 1933. On this day in Moscow, at the Central Airfield named after M.V. Frunze (on the territory of Khodynka Field) an aviation festival was held, during which samples of Soviet aviation technology, the skill and courage of aviators were shown. The air parade was attended by members of the Soviet government and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, headed by Stalin. From this day on, August 18 became a national holiday, however, despite the fact that the Day of the “entire” air fleet was declared, that is, all aviation of the USSR, including aviation of the Navy, Civil Air Fleet, Defense Assistance Society, Aviation and Chemical Construction USSR (Osoaviakhim), etc., the Air Force of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA), both in numbers and in the variety of tasks performed, played a leading role in this holiday.
Since 1935, air parades dedicated to the USSR Air Fleet Day have been held in Tushino on weekends, i.e. were not strictly tied to the day of August 18, but were sometimes postponed to another day or even canceled due to weather conditions.
After the Great Patriotic War, air parades were not held every year; sometimes they were held in July (in 1951 - July 8, in 1952 - July 27). The last air parade in Tushino took place on July 9, 1961. Subsequently, aerial displays of new models of military and civil aircraft were held in Domodedovo. The last of them took place in 1967.
In the 1970s and 1980s, central air parades were not held. However, the tradition of holding air holidays dedicated to the USSR Air Fleet Day has been preserved at the regional level. Every year, air holidays were held in Zhukovsky (by test pilots of the M. M. Gromov Flight Research Institute), in Monino, in Kubinka and other aviation centers of the country.
Since 1972, the holiday has been celebrated on the third Sunday in August.
Officially, the postponement of the celebration of USSR Air Fleet Day to the third Sunday in August was legalized by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 1, 1980 “On Holidays and Memorial Days.”
In 1997, military pilots had their own holiday - Air Force Day, celebrated on August 12. Therefore, since 1997, Air Fleet Day has been a professional holiday for teams of enterprises and organizations, workers and veterans of civil aviation.
Civil aviation in Russia began its development from the moment in February 1923, the Council of Labor and Defense of the RSFSR adopted a resolution “On the assignment of technical supervision of air lines to the Main Directorate of the Air Fleet and on the organization of the Council for Civil Aviation,” which marked the beginning of state regulation of activities air transport in the country.
In 1923, the first aviation society "Dobrolet" was created in Moscow to organize on a commercial basis the transportation of passengers, mail, aerial photography and other work. By June 1923, Dobrolet was equipped with the first regular passenger airline in the USSR Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod.
In 1931, the country's first passenger air terminal opened at the central airfield (Khodynskoye Pole) in Moscow. On February 25, 1932, the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet (GU Civil Air Fleet) was formed and the official abbreviated name of the country's civil aviation was established - Aeroflot. In 1932, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR approved the first Air Code of the USSR. In 1936, the USSR became a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
During the Great Patriotic War, aviators of the civil air fleet made a significant contribution to the victory over the enemy. Special units of Aeroflot participated in combat operations. During the war years, pilots made more than one and a half million combat missions, of which about 40 thousand were behind enemy lines, transported 1.6 million people, and over 400 thousand tons of military cargo.
After the end of the war, the Soviet Union restored the destroyed civil aviation facilities and continued to develop a network of allied and local lines, building new air terminals and runways. Representatives of a new generation of aviation equipment began to take to Aeroflot routes.
In 1970, the USSR became a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Within the framework of this organization, Soviet specialists participated in the preparation of international legal norms related to liability for damage caused by an aircraft, and contributed to the development of a convention on the rights and obligations of an aircraft commander.
By the end of the 1980s, Aeroflot annually transported more than 120 million passengers, about three thousand tons of cargo, and over 400 thousand tons of mail.
Air transport accounted for up to 20% of the total passenger turnover of the USSR, and on long-distance routes (4 thousand kilometers or more) - over 80%. The share of air transportation in the country's cargo turnover was small (less than 0.1%). Civil aviation aircraft of the USSR carried out regular flights to 4,000 cities and towns of the Soviet Union and to airports in almost 100 foreign countries.
In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR and Russia’s declaration of sovereignty, a new stage began in the history of domestic civil aviation. In the former Soviet republics and regions of Russia, their own airlines were created. Aeroflot ceased to be an all-Union structure and became one of several hundred airlines and civil aviation production associations.
In 1992, work began on industry restructuring, corporatization and privatization. Airline enterprises were divided into independent airports and airlines.
On March 19, 1997, the Air Code of the Russian Federation was adopted, establishing the legal basis for the use of Russian airspace and activities in the field of aviation. In accordance with the code, federal rules for the use of airspace and federal aviation regulations have been developed.
Today, domestic civil aviation is demonstrating high growth rates, and the geography of flights of Russian airlines is expanding. Based on international and regional hub airports, a route network is being formed to meet the growing needs for mainline, regional and local air transportation of passengers and cargo.
As of 2016, 259 airfields were included in the register of civil aviation airfields of the Russian Federation, of which 81 airports are approved for international flights.
In the transport system of the state, civil aviation is an important component. In 2015, Russian airlines transported about 92.1 million passengers and more than one million tons of cargo and mail.
During the first half of 2016, aviators transported about 38.1 million people and more than 436.9 thousand tons of cargo and mail.
In the life of Russia with its vast territory, the importance of air transport is enormous. It ensures the mobility of people, solves the most important social problems of supplying residents of hard-to-reach areas with food, medicine and other essential items, promotes the development of business activity, and ensures interregional connections.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
