Russia to resume mass production of Il-96 aircraft

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The Il-96 is back. Well, back on the commercial drawing board. According to this article, political tensions between Russia and, well, almost everyone in the west, as well as economic sanctions mean Moscow is re-visiting plans to restart commercial production. Said, by this article, to be an equivalent to the 747, the Il-96 has not been made since 2009, but two aircraft are to be delivered to the president’s office by the end of the year, with commercial deals expected after that. Volga-Dnepr was reported to have had an order for two freighter versions before production was stopped.