page_title: Tupolev Tu-144
section_title: Specifications (Tu-144D)
hierarchical_section_title: Tupolev Tu-144 / Specifications (Tu-144D)
context_page_description: The Tupolev Tu-144 is a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner designed by Tupolev in operation from 1968 to 1999.
  The Tu-144 was the world's first commercial supersonic transport aircraft with its prototype's maiden flight from Zhukovsky Airport on 31 December 1968, three months before the British-French Concorde. The Tu-144 was a product of the Tupolev Design Bureau, an OKB headed by aeronautics pioneer Alexei Tupolev, and 16 aircraft were manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh. The Tu-144 conducted 102 commercial flights, of which only 55 carried passengers, at an average service altitude of 16,000 metres and cruised at a speed of around 2,200 kilometres per hour. The Tu-144 first went supersonic on 5 June 1969, four months before Concorde, and on 26 May 1970 became the world's first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
  The Tu-144 suffered from reliability and developmental issues, and with the 1973 Paris Air Show crash, restricted the viability for regular use.
context_section_description: Data from 
  General characteristics
  Crew: three
  Capacity: 140 passengers (11 first class & 129 tourist class)
  Length: 65.7 m (215 ft 7 in)
  Wingspan: 28.8 m (94 ft 6 in)
  Height: 12.55 m (41 ft 2 in)
  Wing area: 506.35 m² (5,450.3 sq ft)
  Empty weight: 99,200 kg (218,699 lb)
  Gross weight: 125,000 kg (275,578 lb)
  Max takeoff weight: 207,000 kg (456,357 lb)
  Fuel capacity: 93,000 kg (205,000 lb)
  Powerplant: 4 × Kolesov RD-36-51 or Kuznetsov NK-144 afterburning turbojet engines
  Performance
  Maximum speed: 2,300 km/h (1,400 mph, 1,200 kn)
  Maximum speed: Mach 2.15
  Cruise speed: 2,125 km/h (1,320 mph, 1,147 kn)
  Range: 6,500 km (4,000 mi, 3,500 nmi)
  Service ceiling: 20,000 m (66,000 ft)
  Rate of climb: 50 m/s (9,800 ft/min)
  Wing loading: 410.96 kg/m² (84.17 lb/sq ft)
  Thrust/weight: 0.44
caption: Orthographically projected diagram of the Tu-144LL
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