Tupolev Tu-154M | 1991

Airline - Georgian Airways
Aircraft - Tupolev Tu-154M | 4L-35262
Delivered to Sovnaravia, 1984
Transferred to Georgian Airways, 1991
Stored at Tbilisi Shota Rustaveli International Airport, 2000
Scrapped at Tbilisi Shota Rustaveli International Airport, 2015
Livery - Standard 1991
Country - Georgia

Among the aircraft taken over by Georgian Airways from the Caucasus division of Sovnaravia were five Tupolev Tu-154M jetliners, the workhorse of the Soviet fleet. Like the Ilyushin propliners shown before, these were also crudely painted over with the airline's new branding. Being the most advanced aircraft in the fleet in the early 90s, these were used as flagship aircraft, flying to cities like Moscow, Baku, Istanbul, and Tel Aviv, then to Frankfurt and London when the airline launched its first two European destinations in late 1991. Struggling at first, Georgian Airways' prospects improved in 1992 when Moscavia picked the airline as its first codeshare partner, to assist the latter's rapid expansion into the Caucasus region. Between the two airlines, over twenty weekly flights were operated between Moscow Domodedovo and Tbilisi Shota Rustaveli, all using Tu-154s at the time. Georgian Airways' decision to partner with independently-owned Moscavia over Russian International Airlines (Russia's new flag carrier) caused some political discomfort between Georgia and Russia.

Apart from their Central Asian and European routes, Georgian Airways' Tu-154s even experienced some limited service to India when flights to Mumbai were launched in 1993, however this venture was abandoned after less than two years. As Western airliners were introduced into the fleet in the mid-to-late 90s, three Tupolevs were stored in 1997, however the other two - including 4L-57286, shown here - continued flying until the year 2000.