Why were people transported to the boarding ramp at Soviet airports using trucks with trailers?

In the 70s and 80s of the last century, large square passenger semi-trailers were used to transport people to the aircraft at airports in the USSR, pulled by ZIL or KAZ tractor units.

Journalists from RBK-Ukraine Auto explained how these passenger semi-trailers came to be and why airport buses were not used in Soviet airports.

First Airport Buses in the USSR

In the 50s and 60s, with the emergence of mass regional and trunk aviation in the USSR, the need for transportation to carry passengers to the aircraft became urgent.

This task was assigned to specially designed RАF-980 buses with passenger trailers based on the RАF-977 chassis. The road train, consisting of a towing vehicle and two trailers, had 64 seating places. The maximum speed of the trains was limited to 15 km/h.

The open passenger compartment was exposed to the elements and provided minimal protection from heavy rain. Additionally, it soon became insufficient in capacity.

APPA-4 Passenger Semi-Trailers

In the early 1970s, the AППA semi-trailers replaced the RАF-980. AППA stood for "Airport Passenger Road Train," with the number indicating the number of doors on the semi-trailer.

It was believed that one semi-trailer could accommodate up to 120 people. Benches for 16-20 seated passengers were attached along the sides of the body. The doors had the widest opening in the entire Soviet transport nomenclature, measuring 1400 mm.

The speed of the semi-trailer was limited to 25 km/h. The single-axle trailer suspension was equipped with pneumatic suspension with adjustable ground clearance, as well as shock absorbers from the MAZ-500 truck.

As the utilization rate of KAZ-608 and ZIL-130V1 tractor units that towed them increased, there was no longer a need to introduce new equipment. The Rīga factory produced about 45 passenger semi-trailers annually.

What Happened to Airport Semi-Trailers

By the early 80s, the number of passengers had increased significantly, and the existing model was unable to cope with the demand. It became necessary to deploy 2-3 trucks with trailers to service a single large aircraft.

Designers developed several modifications of AППA, but in the second half of the 80s, the situation changed again – the number of air passengers declined.

In the 90s, many AППA-4 semi-trailers became worn out, and major airports in the post-Soviet space began considering updating their fleet of ground vehicles. Many started purchasing used transport from Europe. Later, in this century, LAZ and MAZ developed their own airport buses.

Interestingly, several of these vehicles are still on the balance sheet at Kyiv Airport and regularly undergo maintenance. Just recently, they were used to transport passengers during peak load days. Additionally, AППA-4 can occasionally be seen shuttling between large cemeteries and major enterprises.

It is worth noting that elections in the Soviet Union were held from its founding in 1922, but universal suffrage began to be implemented in 1936. "Telegraph" reported how elections were conducted in Ukraine during the USSR.