Not sure which one of the above posts is the more condescending, though at least the topic author got the year right for the Sydney Olympics and believe it or not, Australia did exist before construction started on the Sydney Opera House.

Aeroflot were serving SYD with the A310 from late 1993 until at least 1996, after which the service was taken over by the IL62, which lasted less than a year. The flights were twice weekly, arriving early morning with a mid afternoon departure.. Not positive on dates or enroute stops, but I think the A310 went through BKK, the IL62 went through KUL and DEL from memory. The service had stopped by the time the Olympics came around, though quite a few SU aircraft visited during the Olympics.

Not likely that SU would return, much easier to serve a distant point like SYD via code shares unfortunately and realistically, the market would be too small to ever justify a non stop flight.

LTEN11 wrote:

Not likely that SU would return, much easier to serve a distant point like SYD via code shares unfortunately and realistically, the market would be too small to ever justify a non stop flight.

Its Skyteam partner VN was serving MEL and SYD via HAN & SGN, and both HAN & SGN have SU's service there.
A good choice for SU to codeshare with VN.

Imagine flying from Moscow to Sydney on an Il-62. Too amazing for words. Heartbroken I didn’t know about it at the time

x1234 wrote:

I was browsing images and saw this: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Aeroflo ... 8-ET/80855

It looks like in the 1990's Aeroflot flew to Sydney from Moscow via Asia with an A310? Was the route profitable? I know this was before the Sydney 2000 Olympics which put Australia on the world map. Is there any chance of Aeroflot resuming Sydney maybe with the A350? Maybe before TK and becoming the first European airline to serve Australia non-stop to Europe? I know Aeroflot currently serves Oceania with a China Southern code-share via CAN.

Pretty sure Australia was on the map before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

cedarjet wrote:

Imagine flying from Moscow to Sydney on an Il-62. Too amazing for words. Heartbroken I didn’t know about it at the time

Yes I have seen it when I was at the Sydney Airport and said "WOW!". It was awesome to see an unusual airliner here! I absolutely agreed with you!

x1234 wrote:

I know this was before the Sydney 2000 Olympics which put Australia on the world map.

Really? I thought the Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Australia" was what made the UN recognize Australia as a country in 1995. /s

I actually think there's a good possibility that aerofot might return to Australia ..

_ They've got the right cost structure
- Moscow is superbly located for transit to/from the rest of Europe(only Istanbul can meet this )
- EU27 will soon have visa free travel to Moscow ( following the St Petersburg success)- Brits excluded obviously .....
- Aeroflot is changing it's strategy to be more like TK offering potential connections to any EU city over a million people etc
- Sydney can probably be done non stop from Moscow ( just like Istanbul )
- Aerofot (again like TK) has excellent customer service/onboard experience
- There's already a Bali service (I think ) ...Oz is just another island in the same area with better economics

Those IL62/72 s were so comfortable ... ....

I remember the LOT scheduled charters from SYD on Il-62's and the SU A310 service, but can't remember their Il-62 flights at all.

Galwayman wrote:

I actually think there's a good possibility that aerofot might return to Australia ..

_ They've got the right cost structure
- Moscow is superbly located for transit to/from the rest of Europe(only Istanbul can meet this )
- EU27 will soon have visa free travel to Moscow ( following the St Petersburg success)- Brits excluded obviously .....
- Aeroflot is changing it's strategy to be more like TK offering potential connections to any EU city over a million people etc
- Sydney can probably be done non stop from Moscow ( just like Istanbul )
- Aerofot (again like TK) has excellent customer service/onboard experience
- There's already a Bali service (I think ) ...Oz is just another island in the same area with better economics

Those IL62/72 s were so comfortable ... ....

SYD is still at least 5 hours further from Bali. There's a reason why TK hasn't gotten in to SYD yet even though they've been pretty vocal about wanting to jump in.

TWA772LR is correct- it is highly unlikely you will see another European airline service Australia- the economics don't make it viable. As a former KLM Australia Country Manager said to me years ago, "the route has been under the microscope in head office for a long time. The issue is the AMS-SIN fare is $500. But the AMS-SYD fare is only $600 and for an extra $100 the plane is away from base another 24 hours- we make more money turning the aircraft around in SIN."

Why would Aeroflot bother flying down under to an obscure backwater like pre-2000 Olympics Sydney? Genuinely curious.

directorguy wrote:

Why would Aeroflot bother flying down under to an obscure backwater like pre-2000 Olympics Sydney? Genuinely curious.

Excellent question, why would any airline bother flying to a city of 4.5 million people

Why did KL, LH, AZ, JU, AF, UT, BA, VS, OA, OS, NG, or any other European airline I've missed ever bother ?

I will admit pre Olympics Sydney was a backwater, however why did airlines fly there? VFR traffic- and tons of it especially BA, AZ, JU, OA. Also remember QF used to fly to LHR, AMS, FRA, FCO, BEG, ATH and also DAM... this was before MAN/CDG were added much later after some of these ports were long gone.

eta unknown wrote:

I will admit pre Olympics Sydney was a backwater, however why did airlines fly there? VFR traffic- and tons of it especially BA, AZ, JU, OA. Also remember QF used to fly to LHR, AMS, FRA, FCO, BEG, ATH and also DAM... this was before MAN/CDG were added much later after some of these ports were long gone.

Apart from BA, these all predated the massive growth of the ME3. The traffic from our largely immigrant nation back to individual “home” countries made it worthwhile. The was also less of an expectation for successful routes to be daily services.

The last European airline to launch a new service to SYD was NG, with OS retaining it for a while. Pre-Covid BA was the last European airline, post-Covid there won’t be any European airlines flying their own metal to SYD, just one from the UK.

Cointrin330 wrote:

x1234 wrote:

I was browsing images and saw this: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Aeroflo ... 8-ET/80855

It looks like in the 1990's Aeroflot flew to Sydney from Moscow via Asia with an A310? Was the route profitable? I know this was before the Sydney 2000 Olympics which put Australia on the world map. Is there any chance of Aeroflot resuming Sydney maybe with the A350? Maybe before TK and becoming the first European airline to serve Australia non-stop to Europe? I know Aeroflot currently serves Oceania with a China Southern code-share via CAN.

Pretty sure Australia was on the map before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Yeah, i have an old globe from the 1990s, it's there, you're absolutely right!

ExpatVet wrote:

Cointrin330 wrote:

x1234 wrote:

I was browsing images and saw this: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Aeroflo ... 8-ET/80855

It looks like in the 1990's Aeroflot flew to Sydney from Moscow via Asia with an A310? Was the route profitable? I know this was before the Sydney 2000 Olympics which put Australia on the world map. Is there any chance of Aeroflot resuming Sydney maybe with the A350? Maybe before TK and becoming the first European airline to serve Australia non-stop to Europe? I know Aeroflot currently serves Oceania with a China Southern code-share via CAN.

Pretty sure Australia was on the map before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Yeah, i have an old globe from the 1990s, it's there, you're absolutely right!

Will need to find a globe from the 1950's, just to confirm if Australia was on the map before the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

LTEN11 wrote:

ExpatVet wrote:

Cointrin330 wrote:

Pretty sure Australia was on the map before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Yeah, i have an old globe from the 1990s, it's there, you're absolutely right!

Will need to find a globe from the 1950's, just to confirm if Australia was on the map before the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

It might have been, Carlo Pedersoli swam in those Olympics prior to his film career as Bud Spencer!

(I'm full of fascinating and utterly useless trivia like that!)