Developed by Ilyushin during the early 1970s, the Il-86/Il-96 was the Soviet Union’s first and, to date, only widebody jet airliner. But an ever-changing political landscape hampered its development, as Charles Kennedy investigates.
The Ilyushin Il-86/96 family found limited success, with a combined production run of fewer than 140 examples. The aircraft were, however, blighted by Russia’s everchanging political and economic landscape.
FYODOR BORISOV / TRANSPORT PHOTO IMAGES
The ‘jet age’ boom in Soviet skies meant that by the end of the 1960s, airways were becoming congested. Aircraft had to queue to take off, while others circled in holding patterns waiting to land. Similar problems in the West led in the early 1970s to the introduction of the first widebody jets, beginning with the Boeing 747 which entered service with Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), quickly followed by the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and the Airbus A300.
