It was the second jet airliner to enter in regular service, behind the British de Havilland Comet, and was the only jetliner operating in the world from 1956 to 1958, when the British jetliner was grounded due to safety matters. In 1957, Czechoslovak Airlines – ČSA, (now Czech Airlines) became the first airline in the world to fly a route exclusively with jet airliners, using the Tu-104A variant between Prague and Moscow. In civil service, the Tu-104 carried over 90 million passengers with Aeroflot (then the world's largest airline), and a lesser number with ČSA, while it also saw operation with the Soviet Air Force. Its successors included the Tu-124, the Tu-134 and the Tu-154. The Tu-104 was powered by two Mikulin AM-3 turbojets placed in the wing roots (resembling the configuration of the de Havilland Comet). The crew consisted of five people: two pilots, a navigator (seated in the glazed "bomber" nose), a flight engineer and a radio operator (later eliminated). The airplane raised great curiosity by its lavish "Victorian" interior – so-called by some Western-hemisphere observers – due to the materials used: mahogany, copper and lace. For more information, including the lengthy list of variants, click here.
