February 9, 1923, is considered the official birth date of Russian civil aviation, when the Labour and Defence Council issued a resolution entitled "On empowering the Central Air Fleet Administration to handle technical supervision over airlines and on founding the Civil Aviation Council.

On May 1, 1922, flights on the first international route, Moscow-Konigsberg (part of Germany at that time), were launched and later extended to include Berlin. July 15, 1923, marked the introduction of the first regular domestic route between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. On February 25, 1932, the Central Administration of the Civil Air Fleet was founded and “Aeroflot” was adapted as the official abbreviation of the country’s civil aviation service.

Following this resolution on March 17, 1923 open joint stock “DOBROLET” (The Russian Society for Voluntary Air Fleet) was established. The main goal was to develop the civil aviation in the country for the needs of national economy. From this day Aeroflot, as the successor of DOBOROLET, counts its history.

In 1956 Aeroflot launched the world’s first jet, the TU-104, to operate on Russia’s domestic and international routes. In August 1959, Sheremetyevo Airport was opened with the primary task of accommodating international flights. In the late 1950s, the TU-114, the world’s largest aircraft equipped with more efficient turbo-prop engines, underwent rigorous testing and was put into commercial operation by Aeroflot.

In January 1971, the Aeroflot Central Administration of International Air Traffic was established within the framework of the International Airline Transportation Administration, and became the industry’s sole enterprise authorised to operate international flights. Abroad the airline was known as “Aeroflot Soviet Airlines”
In 1980.

In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the “Aeroflot Soviet Airlines” Commercial Production Alliance was created, which was transformed into the open stock company “Aeroflot Russian International Airlines” on July 28, 1992. At the same time, the airline began operating foreign aircraft. The first foreign aircraft to appear at Aeroflot were the leased A310-300 manufactured by Airbus Industry. Two years later, the company acquired Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, which adhere to the highest ecological and noise standards.

In 1994, the airline acquired Russian-made third generation Il-96-300 aircraft for international flights. In late 1995, the airline leased the DC-10-30F long-haul freight carrier.

In 2000 the company name was changed to Aeroflot – Russian Airlines to reflect the change in the company strategy. The Aeroflot fleet shrank dramatically in the post-Soviet era, dropping from 5,400 planes in 1991 to 115 in 1996.

Since the dissolution, Aeroflot has been actively working towards promoting and redefining itself as a safe and reliable airline. In the early 2000s, the airline hired British consultants for re-branding. From the start, plans were afoot to replace the old Soviet-era hammer and sickle logo, which some people in the West viewed as a reminder of the Soviet communist era; despite this the logo was not scrapped, as it was the most recognisable symbol of the company for over 70 years. A new livery and uniforms for flight attendants were designed and a promotional campaign launched in 2003.

Its fleet has undergone a major reorganisation during which most of the Soviet aircraft were replaced by Western-built jets; costs over fuel consumption rather than safety concerns were cited for such a movement. Airbus A319s and A320s for short-haul flights in Europe; and Boeing 767s and Airbus A330s for long-haul routes; were gradually incorporated into the fleet. In the spring of 2004 an expansion on the domestic market was undertaken, aiming to gain 30% share by 2010. The first task was to outperform S7 Airlines, a major rival and the leader in the domestic market.

In April 2006, Aeroflot became the tenth airline to join SkyTeam, and the first air carrier in the former Soviet Union to do so. The company announced its plan to increase cargo operations. It registered the Aeroflot-Cargo trademark in 2006. During that year Aeroflot carried 7,290,000 passengers and 145,300 tons of mail and cargo to 89 destinations in 47 countries. It saw improvements in its earnings and number of passengers carried.

In February 2010, the Russian government announced that all regional airlines owned by the state through the holding company Rostechnologii would be consolidated with the national carrier Aeroflot in order to increase the airlines' financial viability. The merger was completed in late November 2011 in a deal worth US$81 million.

In June 2013, during the World Airline Awards which took place at the 50th Le Bourget air show, Aeroflot was awarded the international prize as the best air carrier in Eastern Europe. In October, the company introduced an affiliated low-cost carrier, Dobrolet. The LCC started operations in June 2014; they ceased on 4 August 2014 owing to EU sanctions over the airline launching flights to Crimea. In late August 2014, Aeroflot announced the launch of a new LCC in October 2014 to replace Dobrolet. The new LCC, named Pobeda, started operations from Vnukovo Airport in December 2014. It had plans to fly to Belgorod, Kazan, Perm, Samara, Surgut, Tyumen, Ufa, Volgograd  and Yekaterinburg.

In March 2014 as a response to 2014 Ukrainian revolution the company announced rerouting their flights to avoid flying over the territory of Ukraine. Also in March 2014, Aeroflot's flight designator ″SU″ was adopted by its subsidiary Rossiya. In September 2015, Aeroflot agreed to acquire 75% of Transaero Airlines for the symbolic price of one ruble, but abandoned the plan later after failing to come to terms on a takeover. The carrier did take over a number of Transaero's aircraft by assuming its leases after the defunct airline's collapse. This introduced the Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 to Aeroflot's fleet. In addition, the company suggested that it would cancel some of its jet orders as a result of the newly assumed aircraft.

Following a prior announcement, Aeroflot's subsidiaries Rossiya Airlines, Donavia and Orenair combined their operations in late March 2016. Orenair's AOC was cancelled by Russian authorities in late May 2016. Aeroflot filed both Donavia and Orenair for bankruptcy in January 2017.

Source: Aeroflot and Wikipedia