Zakavia
On 10 May, 1923 a small airline was established at Tiflis (Tbilisi) in Georgia. Its name derived from Zakavkazie, or Trans-Caucasus, and there were also plans to form an airline called Kakavia, but this never happened. Zakavia operated a single route to Baku, Azerbaijan, probably with Junkers F.13 airplanes. Late in the year, it was associated with Azerbajdzhanskogo dobrovol'nogo vozdushnogo flota, or Azdobrolet, which existed for only a few months. Beset by political upheaval, civil wars, and surrounded by high mountains, Zakavia had the odds stacked against it from its very beginnings. In 1925, after only two years of frustrated efforts it was forced to merge with Ukvozduchput.
In 1929, Zakavia (cum Ukvozduchput) was absorbed into the newly formed national airline Dobrolet (along with Deruluft-Deutsche). As this newly-formed group grew in strength and expanded its network, it developed into an aviation giant which needed a central management control system - this became a reality in February 1932. Every division of civil aviation across Russia and its Republics was incorporated under the umbrella of the Russian Civil Air Fleet and renamed Aeroflot.
