SKOGA was an airline jointly controlled by China and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, based in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China, which operated from 1950 to 1954. The name SKOGA () is the acronym of ''Sovyetsko-Kitaiskoe Obschestvo Grazhdanskoi Aviatsii'' (Soviet-Chinese Civil Aviation Company in Russian: Советско-Китайское общество гражданской авиации). The

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

name was 中蘇民用航空股份公司 (simplified: 中苏民用航空股份公司;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''zhōngsū mínháng gōngsī''), translating to Sino-Soviet Civil Aviation Joint-Stock Company in English.

History

On 2 November 1949, the

and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

governments signed an agreement to establish a Sino-Soviet civil aviation joint-stock company, owned in equal share by each party. With a starting capital of 42 million

Soviet ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, r=rubl', p=rublʲ) was the currency of the Soviet Union. It was introduced in 1922 and replaced the Russian ruble#Imperial ruble (1704-1922), Imperial Russian ruble. One ruble was divided into 100 kopecks ...

s, the Chinese side provided airports, buildings, warehouses, and maintenance facilities. The Soviets contributed aircraft, communication equipment, transportation means, maintenance facilities and airports on Soviet territory. Management offices were set up in

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

and

Ürümqi Ürümqi, , is the capital of the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. With a census population of 4 million in 2020, Ürümqi is the second-largest city in China's northwestern interior after Xi'an, also the ...

. SKOGA was formally established on 1 July 1950, immediately commencing services from Beijing to Chita via Shenyang,

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

and

Hailar Hailar District, formerly a county-level city, is an urban District (China), district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administr ...

, utilising Russian

Lisunov Li-2 The Lisunov Li-2 (NATO reporting name: Cab), originally designated PS-84, was a license-built Soviet-version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by Factory #84 in Khimki, Moscow-Khimki and, after the factory's evacuation in 1941, at the Tash ...

aircraft. This route was initially served once a week, the frequency later being increased to three services weekly, departing Beijing on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and returning from Chita on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Routes to

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

and

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

(in present-day

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

) were also added. From May 1952,

Ilyushin Il-12 The Ilyushin Il-12 (NATO reporting name: Coach) is a Soviet twin-engine cargo aircraft, developed in the mid-1940s for small and medium-haul airline routes and as a military transport. Design and development The Il-12 was developed as a privat ...

aircraft were operated. On 12 October 1954, the Chinese and Soviet governments announced that from 1 January 1955, SKOGA would come completely under Chinese control. From this time, SKOGA ceased operations, and was superseded by the

Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the civil aviation authority of the People's Republic of China, under the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and inv ...

(CAAC) to handle Chinese air traffic.

Destinations

According to a SKOGA timetable from 1954, the following destinations were served: ;China * Aksu * Beijing *

Hami Hami ( zh, c=哈密) or Kumul () is a prefecture-level city in eastern Xinjiang, China. It is well known for sweet Hami melons. In early 2016, the former Hami county-level city merged with Hami Prefecture to form the Hami prefecture-level city ...

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in it ...

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

* Kuqa *

Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...

Qiqihar Qiqihar (also spelled Tsitsihar) is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, w ...

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Yining YiningThe official spelling according to ( zh, s=伊宁), also known as Ghulja () or Kulja (Kazakh language, Kazakh: ), is a county-level city in northwestern Xinjiang, China. It is the administrative seat and largest city of Ili Kazakh Auton ...

;Mongolia *

Sainshand Sainshand (; ) is the capital of Dornogovi Province in Mongolia. It is located in the eastern Gobi Desert steppe, on the Trans-Mongolian Railway. Administration The territory of Sainshand sum consists of 5 ''bags'' (communes). The first three ...

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

;Soviet Union *

* Chita *

References

External links

* * * (Illustrated story of airline) * (Images of crewmember badges) {{Transport in China Defunct airlines of China Airlines established in 1950 Airlines disestablished in 1954 Airlines of China 1950 establishments in China 1954 disestablishments in China Former Aeroflot divisions Civil Aviation Administration of China