Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) has phased out the Il-96 from its fleet following the type's final flight from Tashkent International to Moscow Sheremetyevo on Sunday, March 30.
Russian newswire TASS records the flight as being operated by one of the airline's last of three remaining airframes, RA-96008 (msn 74393201005). Aeroflot had warned in its last quarter results that the retirement of the Ilyushins would be accelerated citing their poor economics.
As its stands, Cubana (CU, Havana International) is the only remaining commercial operator of the type with three airframes.
Built by the Ilyushin Design Bureau (Zhukovsky), the Ilyushin Il-96 is a shortened, long-range, and advanced technology development of Russia's first widebody airliner, the Il-86. It features supercritical wings fitted with winglets, a glass cockpit, and a fly-by-wire control system.
