Russia's problem with long-haul liners for flight safety has worsened. The production of Il-96 series aircraft will not significantly solve it, as it is actually a piece-by-piece production, said Andrey Patrakov, head of RunAvia.
He drew attention to the fact that Russia's wide-body aircraft are necessary, based on the country's territory. However, due to difficult repairs, there are more problems with them than with small aircraft.
There are very few new Il-96s, they are produced at the rate of 1 aircraft per year. And this aircraft is mainly used in the presidential flight unit and for state purposes, it is rarely used in civil aviation.
Patrakov believes that the "wet lease" that Aeroflot has begun using will not drastically affect the situation. Aircraft simply flow from one company to another.
European and American airlines cannot provide us with aircraft on a "wet lease" basis, because they will immediately fall under sanctions. So "wet lease" cases are one-off. This is not a solution.
Wide-body Il-96 series aircraft are being built at the Voronezh aircraft plant VASO. It recently became known that the company plans to expand the runway for testing wide-body aircraft.
Read more materials on the topic:
- Will we not see the Il-96-300? Plans for 23 aircraft turned out to be an "internal forecast" of Rosaviatsia
- Strategy instead of profit: expert insists on launching mass production of Il-96-400M
- Why does the Il-96 aircraft only carry the president, and not ordinary passengers?
