Aeroflot: No Soviet Planes by 2010

According to Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, Aeroflot's board of directors met on the 31st of January and decided that the airline will retire its Soviet-built aircraft by 2010. This means that the Tu-134 and Tu-154 will have to leave soon. Those will all be replaced by Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Airbus A320s, and Sukhoi's Russian Regional Jet (RRJ).

At the same time, however, the airline will take delivery of more Il-96s. The article mentioned that Il-96s will go too, but I don't think that's the case - they're new, and not Soviet-built.

Personally, I think that this is a big loss. From an economical standpoint it makes sense, since those Soviet planes are gas guzzlers and overall inefficient. But I have yet to fly on one and I do believe that my time's running out.

(By the way, if anyone can correct the info regarding the Il-96, that'd be great.)