Ilyushin Il-96
airliner family
The Ilyushin Il-96 (Russian: Илью́шин Ил-96) is a Russian four-engined long-haul wide-body jet airliner designed by Ilyushin in the former Soviet Union and manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association in Voronezh, Russia. It is powered by four high-bypass Aviadvigatel PS-90 twin-spool turbofan engines. As of 2026, the Il-96 is used as the main Russian presidential aircraft. The type's only remaining commercial operator in passenger service is Cubana de Aviación, while Sky Gates Airlines operates two cargo variants.
Development
Initial development
Despite representing a huge advance in technology for the Soviet Union, the serviceable but ultimately disappointing performance of the Ilyushin Il-86, especially in regards to range spurred Ilyushin to begin planning for the long range Il-86D variant and the design was completed in 1976. The primary changes from the base Il-86 included slightly longer wings and increased fuel capacity. The Il-86D project was eventually cancelled, but it laid the foundation for the Il-96, which is essentially a heavily modified and upgraded version of the older design. The new Il-96 featured larger wings, a shorter fuselage, new modern avionics and systems, and the new PS-90A high-bypass turbofan, which greatly decreased fuel consumption and increased overall performance. The prototype was first flown 20 September 1988 and the aircraft was certified in 1992. Aeroflot began passenger service in 1993.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ilyushin Il-96” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.