RUSSIA's Aeroflot has announced that it has retired the last of its Tu-154s aircraft, the famous workhorse of Russian civil aviation and still one of the fastest passenger aircraft today notwithstanding its noisy trijet engines. The last flight took place December 31 on flight SU736 from Ekaterinburg to Moscow, according to Russian Daily Transport Report. Aeroflot operated Tu-154s in domestic and international service for almost 40 years. The first Tu-154 was delivered to Aeroflot in 1970 and the aircraft has been deployed since to deliver mail from Moscow to Tbilisi, Sochi, Simferopol and Mineralniye Vody. Said Wikipedia: "Tupolev Tu-154 is a Soviet medium-range trijet airliner designed in the mid 1960s. One of the notable civilian aircraft of its era, the Tu-154 has been the mainstay 'workhorse' of Soviet airlines for several decades, servicing well over a sixth of the world's landmass and carrying about half of the passengers flown by Aeroflot and all its subsidiaries over that period (137.5 million per year or 243.8 billion passenger kilometres in 1990). "The aircraft has been exported and operated by about 17 non-Russian airlines, as well as a number of non-Russian air forces. It remains the standard airliner for domestic routes across Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union (CIS)," says the current Wikipedia entry. "With a cruising speed of 975km/h, the Tu-154 is one of the fastest civilian aircraft in operation and has a range of 5,280 km. Capable of departing and arriving on unpaved and gravel airfields, it often operates in the extreme Arctic conditions of Russia's northern territories where airports can be very basic. With a service life of 45,000 hrs (18,000 cycles), but capable of 80,000 hrs with upgrades, the aircraft is expected to continue in operation until 2016, although noise restrictions have seen services to western Europe and other areas restricted in recent years," said Wikipedia.