In 1978, the Soviet Union and the United States held negotiations on the supply of Boeing 747 aircraft. The planes were planned to be used primarily on the Moscow – New York – Moscow route, and then on other intercontinental routes.
However, after the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan in December 1979, Soviet-American relations sharply deteriorated. In addition, at that time, tests of the domestic wide-body aircraft Il-86 were in full swing. As a result, the Jumbo Jet delivery project to the USSR did not receive further development. Only one drawing from the prepared Boeing advertising brochure survived from that story.
It was an interesting moment in the history of aviation when three giants – Boeing (B747), Airbus (A300), and Ilyushin (Il-86) – competed for dominance in the wide-body aircraft market. Despite the fact that the Boeing 747 was never delivered to the USSR, this indicates that Aeroflot and the Soviet government saw the potential for using wide-body airliners on intercontinental flights and long-haul routes to the Far East for the development of the country’s economy.
The Il-86 aircraft was developed to replace outdated and less capacious Il-62 and Tu-154, and despite the lack of external success, it became an important stage in the development of the domestic aviation industry. Ultimately, the Il-86 left a noticeable mark on civil aviation in the USSR and served in the new Russia in the new century, performing flights on medium-haul routes with high passenger traffic.
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