Kazakh Airlines Tupolev TU-154M

Kazakh Airlines

IATA - KZ

ICAO - KZA

Callsign - KAZAKH

Tupolev TU-154M

​UN-85151

Kazakh Airlines history can be traced back back to the early 1930's as a division of the national carrier for the then Soviet Union, Poletavia. The division formed part of the Kazakh civil air directorate of the Poletavia National System. Kazakh Airlines operated under the Poletavia brand until 1991 when Kazakhstan gained independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union at which point the airline was transformed into Kazakh Airlines.

While the nation gained independence they needed a new airline to represent themselves to the world and Kazakh Airlines was it, though the airline had officially cut ties with Poletavia they did maintain a close relationship to which they do today with codeshares and interline agreements. After the airline became an independent carrier from Poletavia and began its future to become the flag carrier for Kazakhstan they inherited their original fleet from the Kazakh division of Poletavia and the TU-154M was part of that fleet.

The TU-154M became the backbone of the airlines operations within the central Asian region, Russia and later routes to Europe, the type also operated various domestic services alongside the airlines large fleet of TU-134's. The TU-154 did operate on many routes to Russia however flights to Russia's larger cities where operated by the airlines larger IL-86 aircraft. The TU-154M was the most highly upgraded version of the TU-154 family with lower fuel consumption leading to increased range, noise reduction and increased maximum takeoff weights the aircraft was the perfect fit for Kazakh Airlines. The type initially introduced into service in 1985 while the airline was under the Poletavia brand remained in operation with Kazakh Airlines until 2002 when the airline became privatized and would retire its remaining soviet built airliners in favor of newer more fuel efficient western built aircraft. The TU-154M was also the only variant of the TU-154 that Kazakh Airlines would take on when the airline began its own operations.

UN-85151 was officially retired in 1999, however it was the first of the TU-154M's to enter service in the original Kazakh division of Poletavia.