Currently, there are practically no free long-range Il-96s in Russia, but in the context of isolation from the international transportation market, the scenario for their use becomes very narrow. Aviation expert, editor-in-chief of Avia.ru portal, Roman Gusarov, told "Perviy Technicheskiy" about this.
He recalled that previously large domestic companies, including Volga-Dnepr, flew all over the world. Then Il-96, An-124 and even Boeing were involved. But this concerned large transatlantic transportation.
As far as I know, the airline has already taken apart all passenger aircraft in storage. All of them have been returned to service. Another question is that our own needs for cargo transportation are not so great.
Gusarov added that the liners available in the aircraft fleet are quite sufficient for domestic transportation.
After all, there is also the Il-76. The Il-96 is not suitable for oversized cargo; only euro pallets are loaded there. There is no point in driving the Il-96 empty; even regular scheduled aircraft can handle sending mail. If the global air transportation market does not open for us, then there is no point. For passenger transportation, we understand that the Il-96 is unprofitable.
The head of the RunAvia flight safety service, Andrey Patrakov, warned that the problem with long-range liners in Russia has worsened. The production of Il-96 series aircraft will not greatly solve it, since it is piecemeal.