@ Budapest, Hungary
March 2022
On my fourth trip to Budapest I was finally able to visit the Aeropark museum located adjacent to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport. This is a very cool collection of Soviet-era airliners used by MALÉV Hungarian Airlines, the former flag carrier of Hungary (1946-2012). I’ve always liked the aesthetics of Soviet airliners since they are longer and sleeker than most Western designs, like this Tupolev Tu-154. Similar appearance to the Boeing 727, the Tupolev has wings swept back 35 deg while the 727 is swept to 32 deg. This aircraft entered service in November 1975 as Malév’s fifth Tu-154, operating until retirement in July 1992, and was moved to the Aeropark location in September 1994. Malév operated a total of 18 Tu-154s in their fleet until they were withdrawn from passenger use on 31 March 2001. First flown in 1968, more than 1,000 were delivered and many are still in service. Production ended in 2013.
