IATA TU3ICAO T134

Tupolev Tu-134

Tupolev

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Soviet short-haul twin-jet workhorse of Eastern Europe.

First flight

1963

Category

Narrow-body jet

Seating

72–80 passengers

Range

2,100 km

Engines

Two rear-mounted Soloviev D-30 turbofan engines

Status

Mostly retired

The Tupolev Tu-134 is a Soviet-designed narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner developed in the early 1960s as a successor to the Tu-124. It features a rear-mounted engine configuration and a T-tail design, broadly similar in layout to the Douglas DC-9 and BAC One-Eleven developed in the West around the same time. The aircraft entered service with Aeroflot in 1967 and became the backbone of short- and medium-haul Soviet air travel for decades. It was widely exported to airlines in Warsaw Pact countries and other Soviet-aligned states throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By the 2010s, the Tu-134 had been largely phased out of passenger service due to aging airframes, noise regulations, and high operating costs. A small number remained in use with military and government operators into the 2020s.

Notable operators

Major operators included Aeroflot, LOT Polish Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Interflug, Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, and CSA Czechoslovak Airlines.

Notable facts

›The Tu-134 first flew on 29 July 1963 and entered Aeroflot service in 1967.
›Over 850 aircraft were built before production ended in 1989.
›Its rear-engine, T-tail layout was influenced by Western designs of the same era.
›The Tu-134A variant introduced stretched fuselage seating for up to 80 passengers.
›Russia banned the Tu-134 from scheduled passenger service in 2019 following a series of accidents.