Dobrolyot, or sometimes Dobrolet (English: "good years"), was an early

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

, with the name drawn from part of its full name (Добровольного or Dobrovol'nogo). The Russian Society of Voluntary Air Fleet (Российское общество Добровольного воздушного флота, transliterated as Rossiyskoye obshchestvo Dobrovol'nogo vozdushnogo flota) was formed in 1923 and existed throughout the remainder of the 1920s. It was formed in imitation of the Russian Merchant Navy Volunteer Fleet (''

Dobroflot Dobroflot or Dobrovolny Flot (Russian: Добровольный флот, Доброфлот, meaning "Voluntary Fleet") was a state-controlled ship transport association established in the Russian Empire in 1878 funded from voluntary contributio ...

''), which had previously been formed back in 1878.

History

The ''Dobrolyot'' society was created in the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

on March 17, 1923 to contribute to the development of the country's air fleet. A capital of two million gold rubles was authorised to fund its early projects and this was later augmented by funds derived from the issuance of stocks, which were initially offered to Soviet enterprises at the cost of one gold ruble a piece. Those who bought 25,000 shares were given the right to use a plane from its fleet. When a line between

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and Nijni-Novgorod was established, a daily service was arranged using nineteen Junker-type aeroplanes. The basic objectives were the organisation of airmail, cargo and passenger lines, aviation related solutions of national economic problems (for example, aerial photography of localities) and also the development of the domestic aircraft industry. For example, Dobrolyot constructed airports and weather stations. Territorially, activity of this organisation covered

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. In 1929, ''Dobrolyot'' and the similar organisations of other Soviet republics '' Ukrpovitroshliach'' (Ukrainian Airways) and ''

Zakavia Zakavia (Transcaucasian Society of Air Transport, russian: Закавиа, Закавказское общество воздушных сообщений) was an airline in Georgia and later in Azerbaijan, formed in 1923 and ceased in 1929. Zakavia ...

'' (a Georgian Airline) were incorporated into ''Dobrolyot USSR''. On October 29, 1930, ''Dobrolyot'' was abolished, forming the basis for the ''Central administration of the Civil air fleet'' ''(GU GVF)'', later becoming ''

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...

''. Up until that time, the society's flight routes totaled 26,000 km in length; 47,000 passengers and 408 tonnes of cargo had been transported. In 1932, all civil aviation activities were consolidated under the name of ''Grazhdansky Vozdushny Flot'' (Civil Air Fleet), known as

. In 1993, in Russia, the '' Dobrolyot Aviation Company'' JSC was created. It was operating cargo flights.

History

See also

References

Further reading