The reason for the slow production of Il-96 series wide-body airliners in the Voronezh Region is the lack of orders from airlines. They are probably waiting for the opportunity to buy foreign aircraft again, regional industry minister Sergei Khlyzov shared his opinion.
According to him, the main and practically the only customer for the Il-96 is the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment.
The rest of the airlines are probably waiting for when it becomes possible to buy Boeing again. If I were in the place of senior executives, I would take tougher measures. The MS-21 has been brought to the required level of localization. That means we can do it. But airlines need to put these aircraft into operation. If they do not take them, there will be no maximum workload.
Khlyzov also shed light on the story about plans to lengthen the runway for the Il-96 in Voronezh. It would be more convenient for the Voronezh aircraft plant if the runway became longer, but this is not a key factor either.
The main task is for Russian airlines to place orders and fly our aircraft. Everything else is secondary.
Let us recall that a few days ago the United Aircraft Corporation (OAK) confirmed that another new Il-96 will soon take to the skies. The customer was not named, but apparently this also concerns the Rossiya Special Flight Detachment.
The lack of orders for the Il-96 at VASO somehow aligns with the shortage of wide-body aircraft in Russia. Head of the flight safety service RunAvia Andrei Patrakov warned that Il-96 production will not solve the problem, since these aircraft are built individually.