SKOGA was an airline jointly controlled by China and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, based in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China, which operated from 1950 to 1954. The name SKOGA (russian: СКОГА) is the acronym of ''Sovyetsko-Kitaiskoe Obschestvo Grazhdanskoi Aviatsii'' (Soviet-Chinese Civil Aviation Company in Russian: Советско-Китайское общество гражданской авиации). The

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

name was 中蘇民用航空股份公司 (simplified: 中苏民用航空股份公司;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''zhōngsū mínháng gōngsī''), translating to Sino-Soviet Civil Aviation Joint-Stock Company in English.

History

On 2 November 1949, the

and

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, ...

governments signed an agreement to establish a Sino-Soviet civil aviation joint-stock company, owned in equal share by each party. With a starting capital of 42 million

Soviet ruble The ruble or rouble (russian: рубль) was the currency of the Soviet Union, introduced in 1922, replacing the Imperial Russian ruble. One ruble was divided into 100 kopecks ( – ''kopeyka'', ''kopeyki''). Soviet banknotes and coins were pr ...

s, the Chinese side provided airports, buildings, warehouses, and maintenance facilities. The Soviets contributed aircraft, communication equipment, transportation means, maintenance facilities and airports on Soviet territory. Management offices were set up in

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

and

Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

. SKOGA was formally established on 1 July 1950, immediately commencing services from Beijing to Chita via Shenyang,

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

and

Hailar Hailar District, formerly a county-level city, is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administrative terms only, ...

, utilising Russian

Lisunov Li-2 The Lisunov Li-2 (NATO reporting name: Cab), originally designated PS-84, was a license-built Soviet-version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by Factory #84 in Khimki, Moscow-Khimki and, after evacuation in 1941, at Tashkent Aviation Pro ...

aircraft. This route was initially served once a week, the frequency later being increased to three services weekly, departing Beijing on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and returning from Chita on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Routes to

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

and

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

(in present-day

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

) were also added. From May 1952,

Ilyushin Il-12 The Ilyushin Il-12 (NATO reporting name: Coach) was a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport. Design and development The Il-12 was developed as a priva ...

aircraft were operated. On 12 October 1954, the Chinese and Soviet governments announced that from 1 January 1955, SKOGA would come completely under Chinese control. From this time, SKOGA ceased operations, and was superseded by the

Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the Chinese civil aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents. As the aviation authority responsible f ...

(CAAC) to handle Chinese air traffic.

Destinations

According to a SKOGA timetable from 1954, the following destinations were served: ;China * Aksu * Beijing *

Hami Hami (Kumul) is a prefecture-level city in Eastern Xinjiang, China. It is well known as the home of sweet Hami melons. In early 2016, the former Hami county-level city was merged with Hami Prefecture to form the Hami prefecture-level city with t ...

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou, is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in ...

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...

Kuqa Kucha, or Kuche (also: ''Kuçar'', ''Kuchar''; ug, كۇچار, Кучар; zh, t=wikt:龜茲, 龜茲, p=Qiūcí, zh, t=wikt:庫車, 庫車, p=Kùchē; sa, कूचीन, translit=Kūcīna), was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the ...

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

Qiqihar Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total populat ...

Taiyuan Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. ...

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

Yining YiningThe official spelling according to (), also known as Ghulja ( ug, غۇلجا) or Qulja ( kk, قۇلجا) and formerly Ningyuan (), is a county-level city in Northwestern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China and the seat of the Ili Kazakh A ...

;Mongolia *

Sainshand Sainshand ( mn, Сайншанд; ) is the capital of Dornogovi Province in Mongolia. It is located in the eastern Gobi desert steppe, on the Trans-Mongolian Railway. Administration The territory of Sainshand sum consists of 5 ''bags'' (commune ...

* Ulaanbataar ;Soviet Union *

* Chita *

References

External links

* * * (Illustrated story of airline) * (Images of crewmember badges) {{Transport in China Defunct airlines of China Airlines established in 1950 Airlines disestablished in 1954 Airlines of China 1950 establishments in China 1954 disestablishments in China Former Aeroflot divisions Civil Aviation Administration of China