Ilyushin Il-96 variant
Ilyushin Il-96 Il-96-300
The initial variant and the only Il-96 built in series for scheduled passenger work. It pairs the wide fuselage inherited from the Il-86 with a supercritical wing carrying winglets, fly-by-wire controls and four Aviadvigatel (Soloviev) PS-90A turbofans.
- September 28, 1988
- First flight
- 33
- Units built
- 11,000 km
- Range
- 300
- Passengers
History
Design work began in the mid-1980s to cure the Il-86's disappointing range. The first prototype, registered 96000, lifted off from Moscow's central Frunze aerodrome on 28 September 1988 with a crew led by test pilot Stanislav Bliznyuk, flying for some forty minutes over the centre of the capital. Certification followed at the end of 1992 and Aeroflot opened commercial service in 1993 on the Moscow-New York route. Carrying 262 passengers in a two-class layout, the aircraft reaches about 11,000 km, enough to link Moscow non-stop with the US west coast or Havana, something the Il-86 could not do. In August 2009 the Russian industry ministry announced the end of passenger production, judging the type uncompetitive against Boeing and Airbus; it nevertheless kept flying with Russian state operators and with Cubana de Aviación.