CFM INTERNATIONAL hopes to launch its re-engineing programme for the Russian Ilyushin Il-86 by June and to have certification for the CFM56-powered aircraft by the end of 1996.
General manager of engine sales, Henri Cabannes, says that a group of Russian airlines have declared their intentions to re-engine a total of 25 aircraft - five more than the number that CFMI earlier declared necessary to justify the programme (Flight International, 18-25 January).
More than half of the aircraft, are from Aeroflot Russian International Airlines, with the rest from an unspecified number of smaller carriers.
The CFM56s would replace the Kuznetsov NK-86s, giving a range increase of around 40%, to 7,500km (4,000nm) and a similar percentage reduction in fuel consumption.
Cabannes says: "Now we need firm contracts from the airlines. We hope to have memorandums of understanding within a month. Then we will start talking to banks to get financing. CFMI and Ilyushin are putting in money, but we need the banks."
He says that CFMI is creating two new companies - one to obtain Russian certification and another company which will be "given" the aircraft by the airlines and then lease them back "for a minimum of ten years".
Source: Flight International
