On August 19, heavy cargo aircraft IL-96-400T with registration number RA-96103 took off from the airfield of Voronezh aircraft plant after more than 8-year break. Observations about the first flight after restoration were shared by the magazine Vzlet.
“The overflight of the airplane after a long conservation and restoration of its airworthiness conducted at the plant since last spring lasted more than three hours, checks were carried out in the whole operational range of altitudes and speeds. The airplane was built at VASO in 2009 under the order of the leasing company IFK and was handed over to Polot Airlines at the same time. The machine became the third in the fleet of the cargo-passenger Voronezh air carrier,” noted the editorial office of the magazine.
After the shutdown of the airline in May 2013, all three former Il-96-400Ts in the fleet, as well as the fourth similar aircraft manufactured for Polet, which never managed to start commercial operation, were put into storage at the VASO airfield. Two of them were later converted into passenger special variants and handed over to state customers in 2015 and 2016, while two remained in storage. Even after the termination of its operation at Polet, the RA-96103 was flown several more times: in late 2014 and early 2015, it was used for a series of flights under the IL-96-400TZ refueling aircraft program, which was under development at the time, but was never developed.
In early spring 2022, following the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions, a decision was made to restore the airworthiness of the two remaining IL-96-400Ts, and at the same time RA-96103 was delivered to VASO’s assembly shop for the necessary work. It was expected that in June 2023 it would start performing cargo operations for Volga-Dnepr Group’s AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), whose entire fleet of 13 Boeing 747-8Fs, four Boeing 747-400Fs and one Boeing 777F has been grounded at Sheremetyevo since the end of February 2022.
Volga-Dnepr publicly announced these plans this spring, at which time the RA-96103 was repainted at VASO in ABC livery. In early 2024, the company expected to receive a second similar machine – RA-96101. But now both airplanes are preparing to join the fleet of Sky Gates Airlines, which lost its two Boeing 747-400Fs last year. Currently, according to Rosaviatsia, the carrier operates one IL-76TD. According to information in the media, Sky Gates may soon be acquired by Rostec-controlled Red Wings.
“According to flightradar24, on August 21, RA-96103 flew from Voronezh to Ulyanovsk, where it will apparently undergo repainting at Spektr-Avia in the colors of the new operator, after which it will be able to begin commercial operations.” In the meantime, the second remaining IL-96-400T (RA-96101), which is expected to be able to return to the airlines next year,” Vzlet added.
