Why does the Il-96 fly only “under” the president?

It all looks very strange: if the President of the Russian Federation flies on an Il-96, it means that it is the best airliner in the country's fleet. But for some reason, not a single Russian carrier owns one.


It is logical to assume that since the machine is reliable, it should be used for passenger transportation, instead of painfully developing new airliners or improving old ones. Part of the answer to this question lies in the history of the Il-96, which we will now turn to.

When and why was the plane created?

By the 80s, the volume of long-distance passenger transportation in the country began to increase. To meet demand, it was necessary to create a wide-body long-range airliner that could accommodate a significant number of passengers. The Il-86, which flew on medium-distance routes, was taken as a basis.


The Il-96 first took to the skies in 1988. And since 1993 it has been in serial production at the Voronezh Joint Stock Company.


The main technical data of the basic (we will talk about modifications later) Il-96-300 machine:

✅ wingspan, length, height at tail – 57,66, 55,345 and 17,55 m
✅ maximum takeoff weight – 250 t
✅ Number of passengers – 300 (for Il-96-400 – 435) people
✅ range - 9 thousand km
✅ ceiling - 12 km
✅ speed - up to 910 km / h

The airliner is equipped with four PS-90A engines; the aircraft was also equipped with Pratt&Whitney PW2337.

Design

This is a low-wing aircraft with a wide fuselage, the diameter of which is the same as that of the Il-86 – 6,08 m. However, the length, compared to its predecessor, is reduced by 5,23 m to increase the strength of the structure and increase its service life. Distinctive features include wingtips, the height of which reaches 3,1 m. The number of welds on the fuselage is reduced to a minimum. The chassis consists of 14 wheels placed on three supports.


The standard cabin of the plane includes three rows of seats with aisles 55 cm wide. There are buffet counters and eight toilets. There is even a cloakroom. There are three cabins in the plane: business, economy class and VIP (40 seats).


The Il-96 was the first to be equipped with a flight control system, allowing the number of crew members to be reduced to three (without a navigator). In addition to analog instruments, monitors appeared on the panel.

Modifications

There were quite a lot of them. In addition to the basic version of the Il-96-300 and the presidential aircraft with the complex name Il-96-300PU, and later – PU (M1), machines with the following indexes were produced:

✅ 400 – an improved version of the 300th model with foreign power units PW2337 and an increased range of up to 13 thousand km
✅ 400T – a cargo aircraft, which had its own modifications – a TZ refueling tanker and a 400VPU control point
✅ Il-96M (or MO) – the most capacious aircraft (435 passengers)
✅ Il-96MD – a version of the airliner with a pair of PW4082 engines, was certified in the USA in 1997

In addition to the above-mentioned real models, there were projects based on the serial machine. This is the Il-96-500T, which had an extended fuselage and was designed to transport oversized cargo. Another unrealized development is the Il-96-550: a project for a two-deck machine for 600 passengers. And the last modification is the Il-96-400M, which provides for the use of Russian avionics and PD-35 engines, as part of import substitution. This model has been tested, but with four PS-90A1.

Incidents with Il-96

During the entire period of operation of this aircraft model, there have been no accidents resulting in loss of life. This fact alone speaks of the reliability of the aircraft, which has been flying for 1993 years since 32. However, not many machines have been produced: as of 5.07.2023 – 33 units of equipment.


The first serious incident was recorded in 2004. After takeoff from Lisbon, the plane returned to the runway: presumably due to a collision with a flock of pigeons. A day later, the plane was inspected by aircraft technicians who arrived from Russia. The president was not on board at the time, he was in Saratov. After examining the plane, experts concluded that it was not the birds that were to blame, but the condensation that had gotten onto the instruments, which "initiated" their incorrect readings. The power plant was functioning normally, and the equipment "sounded the alarm" about the engines not reaching takeoff mode.


In 2005, the presidential Il-96 was left at a Finnish airport due to a detected failure of the braking system. V. V. Putin flew away on a spare Il-62. As a result, a few days later, all flights of this model of airliner were banned by order of the Federal Service for transport. It turned out that one of the chassis units assembled in Balashikha was defective. A new batch was immediately manufactured, but at another enterprise – the capital's NPO Molniya.


The uproar was resonant: the general director of the Voronezh aircraft plant, V. Salikov, was fired. The flight ban was lifted after 42 days, but the air carriers, and Aeroflot in particular, suffered serious losses. Starting in April 2014, all Il-96s owned by Aeroflot were taken out of service. One of them was leased to the Cuban air carrier Cubana.


In 2014, an empty Il-96-300, already decommissioned, suddenly caught fire at a parking lot in Sheremetyevo for no apparent reason.


There were no casualties, but the car was declared completely unusable and beyond repair: it was cut up for scrap metal.

Where are the Il-96s now?

The main part is in the special flight squadron "Russia", servicing the first persons of the state. 10 Il-96-300 aircraft are in operation, one Il-96-400. Three aircraft fly in Cuba: they mainly perform the Havana-Madrid flight. Several more airliners are in storage at the Ilyushin Design Bureau, at the Voronezh Aircraft Plant, with the carrier companies Aeroflot, Domodedovo Airlines, Polet. There are plans to build new, modernized versions of the Il-96 with Russian engines and avionics.

Why Airlines Are Abandoning the Il-96

The reasons are trivial: just remember the four engines, which consume more fuel than two, for example, on the Boeing-777-200. The second point is the maintenance of a wide-body aircraft.


Almost all airports in the Russian Federation are “tailored” for imported aircraft (mainly Boeings, Airbuses) and carrying out work with an “outsider” will cost the air carrier an additional amount. Does it really need it? Here we can also add the training of flight personnel, the development of training complexes, the availability and prompt delivery of spare parts…


Then a second question arises in parallel: why does the President of the Russian Federation fly on such an aircraft? Firstly, the Il-96 is a reliable and safe machine, although it requires careful maintenance. Scheduled checks take up 30% of the entire service life. For comparison: for Boeing this figure is 7%.


However, it is worth considering: the plane of the first person of the state is stuffed with special equipment. Installing it on machines manufactured abroad is unsafe, since information from the plane can be intercepted.


As for the future of the aircraft model, it is not yet very clear, but there is encouraging news. The test flight of the Il-96-400M took place on November 1, 2023. There was also information that UAC is working on a twin-engine version of the aircraft.