A confiscated TU-154M passenger aircraft originally smuggled to China 16 years ago was flown home to Russia on Monday.

It headed to Moscow after being left unused for almost six years at the Chengdu-based Shuangliu Airport in Sichuan Province, southwest China.

"The plane took off from Shuangliu Airport at 10:48 AM," said Wang Hongkai, deputy general manager of Beijing Jiahe Jiamei Home Furniture & Structural Material Ltd. Co. yesterday.

Wang's company bought the plane in 2000 through a bidding process, receiving national attention since it was the first time an aircraft had been auctioned on the Chinese mainland.

The 164-seater was reported to be one of four planes illegally imported by Mou Qizhong, a notorious business tycoon in the central province of Hubei. He brought it to China back in 1989 in return for 500 lorry loads of domestic-made products, including instant noodles.

Mou later sold the plane to Sichuan Airlines, where it was flown for almost seven years before being confiscated by local customs officials in June 1999.

That was when authorities found Mou to be deeply involved in financial fraud. He was later given a life sentence by a local court.

The Russian-built plane was then authorized to be sold at the Sichuan Auction Center on December 26, 2000. Wang's company won with a bid of 1 million yuan (US$120,000).

The TU-154 plane is valued at around US$8 million based on the 1990s prices, according to Chengdu's Tianfu Morning Post.

Wang thought it might help promote his furniture company, since no one else on the mainland offered the use of a plane to customers.

But, though it did help increase the firm's profile and sales, Wang's plans were thwarted after running into problems getting the aircraft from Chengdu to Beijing.

Civil aviation authorities had suspended it from being allowed to fly in 1999, meaning that it could only be transported by road or sea.

Faced with these difficulties, Wang's company decided to bring it under the hammer.

A Russian company offered 2.16 million yuan (US$ 260,000) at a Beijing auction. "The buyer is an aeronautics technology and equipment company based in Moscow and its president headed a five-member crew to take delivery of the plane yesterday," Wang said.

The plane has 1,700 flight hours, which is far from the 30,000 hours that would be its expected lifetime operating capacity, according to the Tianfu Morning Post.

(China Daily March 1, 2005)