Tupolev Tu-104

Tu-104
Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104A at Arlanda Airport in 1972
Role	Narrow-body jet airliner Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Tupolev OKB, Kharkiv Aviation Factory, Kazan Aircraft Production Association, Omsk Aviation Plant 166
Designer	Andrei Tupolev
First flight	17 June 1955; 69 years ago (1955-06-17)
Introduction	15 September 1956 (Aeroflot)
Retired	1981
Status	Retired
Primary users	Aeroflot ČSA
Produced	1956–1960
Number built	201
Developed from	Tupolev Tu-16
Variants	Tupolev Tu-110 Tupolev Tu-124

The Tupolev Tu-104 (NATO reporting name: Camel) is a retired medium-range, narrow-body, twin turbojet-powered Soviet airliner. It was the second to enter 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 concerns.^[1]

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 civilian 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 was operated by the Soviet Air Force. Its successors included the Tu-124, Tu-134, and Tu-154.