International demand from Soviet Union

[chiveicrook]

Looking at different Aeroflot timetables makes me wonder about AWS's restriction on international flights from other cities than Moscow...
Historically there were some international routes from Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Kiev, Tashkent, Khabarovsk, Alma-Ata and Vladivostok. Some of them existed even in the 1950s during the coldest era :-)

Here is a route map from 1957:
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/su/su57/su57-04.jpg

Map from 1968:
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/su68/su68-02.jpg

Table from 1963:
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/su/su63/su63-07.jpg

And some 1968 routes:
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/su68/su68-10.jpg
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/su68/su68-11.jpg

IMHO there should be some demand, especially to Eastern Bloc countries (where travel was practically unobstructed) and friendly "western" countries like Finland.
Overall demand in Soviet Union seems greatly diminished in AWS. Both international and domestic.

[Sami]

The airports were classified domestic or intl, and I have no info whatsoever when each airport received "international" status there (varies so greatly), hence this approach was chosen.

Don't know when Helsinki-Leningrad begun, but for sure there were no other routes than Hel-Moscow (and the possible LED)..

[chiveicrook]

Hmmm.... a few adjustments would fit in current system though :-)

First of all Vnukovo airport should be much more important until 70s:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vnukovo.ru%2Frus%2Fabout%2Fhistory%2F%23.UBBiBaNKz6M

1946 - General Directorate of CAF has approved a scheme of passenger flights departing from Moscow Vnukovo to CAF main airport for the years

1945-1946. In particular, it was approved by over 20 domestic flights, including Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Kiev, Yerevan, Tashkent, Alma-Ata, Frunze, Ashkhabad, Tbilisi, Vilnius, Baku, Khabarovsk, Minsk, Novosibirsk, Riga and other cities. International flights were carried out in German cities, in Prague, Vienna, Belgrade, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Tehran, Helsinki and other items.

1955 - in accordance with the agreements on air services regular flights from Vnukovo performed in Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, GDR, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Finland.

1976 - The traffic volume in 1976 amounted to 4.5 million passengers. From 1956 to 1976 the volume of traffic has increased 20 times.

1983 - the carriage of passengers at the airport Vnukovo exceeded 5.5 million people

vs Sheremetyevo:
http://www.svo.aero/en/history/civil/

In 1960, over 270,000 passengers and 15,000 tons of mail and cargo were handled at Sheremetyevo Airport, out of which 170,000 passengers and 11,000 tons of mail and cargo were carried on international airlines.

In 1964, planes from 18 foreign airlines made regular flights to Sheremetyevo, and up to a dozen aircraft of various types landed at the aerodrome. By the end of 1964, air service on domestic and foreign airlines doubled, reaching 822,000 passengers and 23,000 tons of mail and cargo. Just international airlines alone carried 245,000 passengers and 12,000 tons of mail and cargo.

By the end of 1965 Aeroflot had concluded contracts on air service with 47 countries, to 40 of which crews of the Transport Administration of International Airlines carried out regular flights. The absolute majority of international flights were made from Sheremetyevo Airport.

In 1969, 1.5 million passengers were carried, and 715,000 passengers and 22,000 tons of mail and cargo was carried by international airlines.

Something similar to Haneda->Narita transition could be implemented...

[vidiv007]

Do you know (I'm assuming you do) does the limited or/ non-existant international flights from other soviet airports last up until the break up of the union?

[Tha_Ape]

Do you know (I'm assuming you do) does the limited or/ non-existant international flights from other soviet airports last up until the break up of the union?

In the game and currently, yes, lasts until December 25, 1991.
Now if it's for the airport data contribution... That thing will be a mess. I have other Soviet timetables and route maps showing the exact same fact as chiveicrook showed, but the date these airports became intl... Gee!