S7 Airlines

No, the stored Ilyushin IL-86 at Novosibirsk will not return to service

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Konstantin von Wedelstaedt (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2), via Wikimedia Commons

To make mistakes is human, I must admit. Russian parody website Panorama.pub made me believe that technicians of Russian S7 Airlines (Siberia) were completing the last checks of the currently grounded Ilyushin Il-86 in order to reinstate the aircraft and operate it on domestic flights between Novosibirsk, Moscow and St. Petersburg as from 30 March. 

To not completely remove my “work” of translating the story, I will keep it. Please note that the article is fake news. My bad.

The website – which must write incorrectly but obligated about a “special military operation in Ukraine” (read: invasion and war in Ukraine) – is forced to reinstate the old machinery after sanctions of the Western countries. S7 Airlines operates Airbus, Boeing and Embraer aircraft but the use of these aircraft has become problematic as the supply of spare parts, oil, navigational updates has dried out.

Russian Minister of Transport Vitaly Gennadyevich Savelyev also offered the airline to purchase Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft, but first, the airline will start using an Ilyushin Il-86 which was stored in Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport, Siberia.

“The Ilyushin Il-86 is a fairly new machine, built in 1988,” S7 Airlines CEO Vladislav Filev said. He added that the aircraft was not used for the last 9 years, and stood as a monument to Soviet aviation at the airport of Novosibirsk. “So it is still in decent condition, we can quickly prepare the aircraft for duty and fly it for the next six to eight years and then we will replace the aircraft with new ones,” Filev added.

Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport promised to issue the AOC (airworthiness certificate) as soon as possible. In order not to delay the entry of the Ilyushin Il-86, the inspectors of the agency will not conduct any checks on the technical condition of the aircraft, but will limit themselves to thrusting the engineers.

The S7 Airlines engineers said that the most difficult task was to remove traces of vandalism in the cockpit and to clean debris from the engines.

The airline added that all tickets for the first Ilyushin Il-86 flights are sold out.

Note: fake news

This post was published on 24 March 2022 18:40

Bart Noëth

Working for 25 years in the aviation industry, I changed my career and became a firefighter/EMT in 2021. I like to spend my free time with my two sons, girlfriend, family and friends. I love to travel, wine and dine and support my favourite football squad KV Mechelen. Once an Ironman 70.3 finisher and dreaming of completing a full distance.

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