Global civil aviation has almost completely switched to twin-engine long-haul aircraft. Against this background, the Russian Il-96-400M looks like an aircraft from another era, but it has a feature that the new Russian airliners MS-21 and SJ-100 cannot boast, explained Yuri Tretyakov, technical director in the aircraft industry, to "Pervy Tekhnichesky".
The airliner received four PS-90A1 engines – a development of the PS-90A family. According to Tretyakov, this is the last domestic power plant that has fully completed the necessary cycle for use on long-haul aircraft.
The PS-90A remains the last engine for use on long-haul aircraft that has completed the full technical and regulatory cycle and is domestic in terms of technology and components.
According to Tretyakov, the four PS-90A engines themselves do not create obstacles for the operation of the Il-96-400M.
Technically, flights on such aircraft are quite possible, although their commercial viability depends on the interest of a specific operator, he concluded.
The aircraft are built at the Voronezh Aircraft Plant. There are no new orders for the Il-96 from airlines, so this situation effectively makes it unclaimed in the civil aviation market.