IL-96-400M

2023: First Flight

The wide-body long-range aircraft Il-96-400M made its first successful flight. This was announced in early November 2023 by the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. According to him, the new aircraft not only retained the high performance of its predecessor, but also received new opportunities in transportation and operation.

Due to the new modern flight-navigation and radio communication equipment on Russian components, the safety and reliability of flights is increased, and solutions that ensure operational efficiency are used in the aerodynamic layout, structures and systems of the aircraft. In the future, the new ship will allow us to develop and improve our competencies in creating wide-body long-range aircraft, - said Manturov, whose words are quoted by the press service of the Cabinet.

IL-96-400M

The crew as part of the first flight of the Il-96-400M included Honored Test Pilot of Russia Sergei Sukhar (aircraft commander) and Honored Test Pilot of Russia Igor Zinov. The aircraft rose to an altitude of up to 2 thousand meters, during the test the aircraft developed a speed of up to 390 km/h. The span took 26 minutes. The place of take-off and landing is not specified.

Earlier, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) reported that the total cost of the program for creating a new wide-body long-range passenger aircraft Il-96-400M was determined at 53.4 billion rubles. The financing of the program was planned at the expense of state funds by contributing to the authorized capital of the UAC and the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK).

As UAC General Director Yuri Slyusar emphasized in early November 2023, the commissioning of the Il-96-400M will provide a replacement of foreign analogues along with passenger aircraft MS-21-310, SJ-100 and Tu-214 from the UAC line in the wide-body liner segment.^[1]

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