ILYUSHIN IS TO DEVELOP modifications to the Il-96-300 to allow Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines (ARIA) to re-engine its Il-96 fleet with Pratt & Whitney PW2037 turbofans, and improve reliability.
A formal agreement on the design work, which was signed recently by ARIA's general director Marshal Evgeni Shaposhnikov, and Genrikh Novozhilov, general designer at Ilyushin, has been heavily criticised by the Russian industry. It has already developed a stretched PW2037-powered derivative, the Il-96M, which is undergoing flight-testing.
The 165kN (37,000lb)-thrust PW2037 would replace the four-engined Il-96-300's unreliable Aviadvigatel/Perm Motors 157kN PS-90A powerplant. During 1995, ARIA had to perform 31 engine changes on its five Il-96-300s. It has since received a sixth.
The PS-90A, which entered service on the Il-96 in 1993, had been earmarked for $140 million of Government funding between 1995 and 1997, to allow design and manufacturing improvements to be carried out.
ARIA uses the 235-seat widebody on its long-haul services from Moscow to the USA and Asia. Re-engineing the aircraft would also significantly improve the aircraft's payload-range performance, because of the superior fuel efficiency of the US engine.
Aviadvigatel general designer Mikhail Kuzmenko argues that the PS-90 is still in the early stages of airline operation, and that development work has been hampered by the financial crisis affecting Russia's aerospace industry. Similar Western engines have suffered problems in the early stages of their development, he adds.
One senior industry source complains that "-not one rouble of Government money should be spent on this work [Il-96-300 re-engineing]. Any such money is urgently needed for Russia's aero-engine industry".
Meanwhile, four ex-Delta Air Lines Airbus A310-300s that were due to be added to ARIA's fleet by late June on lease from Airbus Industrie have still not entered service, as they await the signing of a presidential decree exempting them from Russian import duties.
US-Russian trade talks in mid-1995 included an undertaking by the Russian Government that airliners imported would enjoy a tax exemption, but no legislation has been passed to provide for this. The decree covering the A310s is understood to have been on President Boris Yeltsin's desk for weeks.
Source: Flight International
