Chemezov: updated Il-96s are planned to be produced for special forces and cargo transportation

The modernized wide-body long-haul airliner Il-96 will probably be produced under the order of the special flight detachment (SLO) “Russia”, which provides flights for the country’s top officials, as well as for transport aviation. Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov announced this to reporters.

“Most likely, we do not plan to mass produce them yet – they will be produced, as a rule, to order from SLO. In general, most likely, they will be used for transport aviation, for transporting cargo,” he said (quote via Interfax).

Chemezov recalled that work on the heavy PD-35 engine for wide-body aircraft continues, and with the PS-90 engine the airliner is not efficient enough for commercial air carriers.

In the spring of 2022, Rostec considered resuming serial production of the Il-96 and the Tu-214 medium-range aircraft, wrote “Vedomosti”.

Development of the Il-96 began back in the 1970s. based on the wide-body Il-86, the new model made its first flight in 1988. Production of the aircraft with a capacity of up to 435 passengers was established at the Voronezh Aviation Plant (now VASO as part of UAC). Production of the Il-96 in Voronezh has not been carried out since 2009, but in 2021 two Il-96s were completed from the previous reserve by order of government agencies, a Vedomosti source said in UAC. The main operator of this airliner in Russia is SLO Rossiya.

How said in an August interview with Vedomosti, the CEO “Aeroflot» Sergey Aleksandrovsky, Russian industry is not capable of producing Il-96-300 or Il-96-400 in the required quantities, and restoring production volumes is too expensive. It is necessary to introduce a new twin-engine aircraft using advanced technologies and good fuel efficiency, he emphasized.