TOSHKENT - Tujue Airways, the regional flag carrier of Central Asian Soviet Socialist Republics, has warned Moskva that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will lose the aviation market to the Western Bloc. With the recent launch of the British Britannia and the already launched American counterparts, the USSR is behind on aviation development. "Currently, we only have the Lisunov Li-2, which is a license build Douglas DC-3. Its replacement, the Ilyushin Il-12, is still a piston engined aircraft with a upgraded variant of the Li-2 engine," the CEO said.
Tujue Airways has requested the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to push the design bureaus to develop new aircraft. "We currently fly two Douglas DC-4 piston engine aircraft for our Moscow flights. Otherwise, a single flight between Toshkent and Moskva will require two technical stops and a flight time of 12 to 13 hours, just to fly 20 passengers! This while the British are already developing turboprop and jet aircraft. We are confident that our comrades can develop even better aircraft, however the Supreme Soviet need to issue orders for its development first..."