The design of the IL-96 heavy passenger aircraft began in the late 1980s. The liner project looked extremely promising. The car was launched into mass production in 1993. However, in the future, the fate of the passenger plane did not turn out in the best way. Why did everything turn so that one of the most promising passenger liners was practically out of work?
By the mid-1970s, there was a sharp increase in the volume of long-haul passenger air travel. All this time, in the USSR and other socialist states, mainly Il-62 airliners were used. By that time, in general, a good aircraft was already seriously outdated and was beginning to lose in many respects to the brand new Boeing 747, which was commissioned in 1969. The Soviet Union faced the need to create a new generation machine.
The Ilyushin Design Bureau took over the development of the passenger aircraft of the future. As a result, the Il-96 passenger airliner was born. The car made its first flight in 1988. At the same time, the aircraft was put into mass production. However, the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union and the "dashing 90s" together with the prolonged economic crisis did not allow the release of the 96s to be widely deployed. First, at that time the country simply did not have the resources for truly mass production. So, from 1988 to 1992, only 28 liners were assembled. Secondly, foreign manufacturers and air carriers immediately entered the domestic market, which were vitally not interested in the presence of such a competitor as a former Soviet enterprise on the market.
As a result, the release of the Il-96 was frozen several times, stopped and resumed. A total of 30 such aircraft were produced. The machines were not widely used for objective reasons. In Russia itself, the 96s were operated only by the Special Flight Squad "Russia", which is engaged in the transportation of high-ranking government officials. Including the president of the country. However, after a series of incidents in 2009, Aeroflot imposed a ban on the use of Soviet aircraft. By 2014, all Il-96s remaining in service were decommissioned for technical reasons.
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