The Ilyushin Il-96 is a four-engined long-range widebody airliner, which incorporates advanced achievements in Russian and foreign aerospace technology,. The IL-96-300 aircraft is designed by Ilyushin Aviation Complex in the city of Moscow, Russia, and it's manufactured by Voronezh Aircraft Manufacturing Company in Voronezh, Russia. The aircraft is powered by four turbofan two-shaft Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines, produced by Perm Motors in Perm, Russia.

About

The Ilyushin Il-96 is a shortened, long-range, and advanced technology development of Russia's first widebody airliner, the Ilyushin Il-86. It features supercritical wings fitted with winglets, a glass cockpit, and a fly-by-wire control system. It was first flown in 1988 and certificated in 1992. The IL-96-300 aircraft equipped with modern Russian made avionics which includes six multifunctional color-LCD displays, electro remote management system, inertial navigation system, collision air avoidance system (including mode "S") and satellite navigation equipment, VHF communication with grid of 8,33/25 kHz frequencies, and equipment permitting executes flights in RVSM conditions. It allows operating the airplane with two crew members. The avionics correspond to modern requirements on international routes in Europe and North America (RNP-1) and allows to navigate and land under ICAO CAT IIIA conditions. The Il-96 comes in three main variants: the Il-96-300, Il-96M/T and Il-96-400.

The Il-96-300 has a passenger cabin layout for 262 seats, 18 seats with pitch equal to 54 inches plus 244 seats with pitch equal to 32 inches. Galleys are positioned on the upper deck, 18 containers LD-3 and crew rest room are positioned on the lower deck. There is also stipulated a converting of this layout to the 289 seats layout by changing seats in the business class section from 18 to 44 with seats pitch of 34". Although its list price is more than 30% lower than the equivalent western types, Russian airlines are not particularly eager to buy it. As of September 2006, there are only 16 Il-96-300s in operation with Aeroflot (6 of the 17), KrasAir (2), Domodedovo Airlines (3; actually operated by Krasair on behalf of AiRUnion alliance), Atlant-Soyuz Airlines (1; cargo version), Cubana de Aviacion (2) and President Putin's airwing (2). Two more aircraft are being readied at the plant in Voronezh for shipment to the government of Cuba. Both Aeroflot and Transaero received tax exemption when importing Western-built aircraft in exchange for their promising to buy a few Il-96's each.
Countries with airline orders for the Il-96
Countries with airline orders for the Il-96

Meanwhile, Air Zimbabwe was planning to purchase 5 Il-96-300, making the airline the largest carrier of the type outside Russia and second largest carrier to operate the planes after Aeroflot. [citation needed] However, after talks with Russian authorities, the order was cancelled (along with Tupolev orders).

In June 2006, Syrianair announced an agreement to purchase two Il-96-400 aircraft and an Il-96-300 aircraft.

The Cuban official newspaper Granma announced on 3 January 2006 the first official flight of the first Cubana IL-96-300, from Havana, Cuba to Buenos Aires, Argentina[2].

It was announced that since the second quarter of 2007 the factory will be tuned to produce only two latest modifications of the plane.

[edit] Variants

There are two variants of the Il-96 and launched on two separate occasions. The Il-96-300 was launched in 1985 with introduction into service in 1993. The Il-96M was launched in 1993 with introduction into service in 2000.

[edit] Il-96-300
President Putin's VIP Il-96-300 air wing
President Putin's VIP Il-96-300 air wing
Il-96 in the new livery of Aeroflot
Il-96 in the new livery of Aeroflot

The Il-96-300 is the initial variant and is fitted with Aviadvigatel (Soloviev) PS90A turbofans with a thrust rating of 16,000 kgf (157 kN, 35,300 lbf). Development started in mid-80s while first prototype flew on 28 September 1988, with Russian certification was obtained on 29 December 1992. The first Il-96 entered service with Aeroflot in 1993.

Range with 262 passengers and fuel reserve (for holding during 75 minutes at the altitude 450 m) in a two-class configuration is about 5,940 nautical miles (11,000 km), allowing flights from Moscow to US west coast cities, a far improvement over the Ilyushin Il-86. It is used by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a VIP plane.

This version also comes in a longer