Babyflot is the informal name given to any airline in the former Soviet Union created in the early 1990s from the dissolution of the Soviet airline monopoly held by Aeroflot, at the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union. The word is a portmanteauofbaby and Aeroflot (compare Baby Bells).
In 1992 Aeroflot was divided into more than 300 regional and other smaller airlines, with many being single-plane operations. International routes were operated separately as Aeroflot—Russian International Airlines (ARIA).[1] Some airline companies created from the old Aeroflot are now flag carriers of independent post-Soviet countries, such as Uzbekistan Airlines.
There were over 846 such airlines at one time with many of them subsequently closing down due to abysmal safety records in 1994. 118 carriers went out of business because fewer passengers could afford to fly in 1995.
By 2000, Russia had only about eight federal air carriers and 40 to 45 regional airlines – down sharply from the current 315 carriers, said Ivan Valov, first deputy chief of the Russian Federal Aviation Service. The government began to restrict licensing and certification and bring air-safety standards into compliance with international standards. The "Babyflot" airlines have been blamed for a sharp decline in Russia's air safety. Many of the crashes that occurred have been blamed on poor maintenance and lax controls at many small carriers, which have neglected flight safety in their run for profit.[2]
The eight hundred-odd "Babyflot" airlines had such poor safety records that in 1994 the International Air Transport Association took the unusual step of recommending train travel as the least life-threatening form of conveyance in the former Soviet Union.[3]
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