Soviet routes of Aeroflot (1965)

Milhaud 2025-07-29
Soviet routes of Aeroflot (1965)

This map, published around 1965, shows the domestic routes of Aeroflot, the Soviet state airline.

The map includes all the routes that existed at that time and also incorporates the main monuments and cities throughout the Soviet Union. The aesthetics used are particularly striking, with a marked modernist character, both in the illustrations and in the compass roses. Incidentally, multiple compass roses are necessary to show that the map is not exactly oriented east-west, but rather that the projection used curves the territory to minimise distortion.

Another striking feature of this map is the multiple routes and the absence of long journeys, which were already becoming commonplace around the world. According to the map, it would take seven stopovers to travel from Moscow to Vladivostok, whereas today it can be done in a single flight of around eight hours.

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