IL-76 RE-ENGINE PROGRAMME LAUNCHED

Farnborough, 24 July 2002.Volga-Dnepr Airlines and Perm aero-engine plant signed an agreement at Farnborough International to launch the Ilyushin Il-76 re-engine programme. The Il-76 will be powered with PS-90A engines developed by Aviadvigatel design bureau.

The Il-76 re-engine programme has passed through all the preliminary stages and is unanimously approved by programme participants. Aviastar-SP, the Ulyanovsk-based aircraft manufacturing facility, is nominated the base plant, which will perform all work in the programme. The Il-76 re-engine will ensure another 15 years of commercial operations for this aircraft. The modernised Il-76 will comply not only with Chapter III ICAO regulations, which became effective from April 1, 2002, but can be brought into compliance with Chapter IV. Il-76 overall performance will be enhanced as a result of the re-engine process with increased thrust and lower fuel consumption.

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has always allotted attention to the modernisation process of this unique freighter. In 2000 Volga-Dnepr's Il-76 became the first operated by a Russian airline to have a thorough avionics modernisation. The aircraft was equipped with Russian-built Orlan 8.33 KHz-spaced VHF radios, Allied Signal TCAS-2000 as well as BRNAV-5 and Apollo-50 satellite navigation systems.

The modernisation allowed Volga-Dnepr to expand considerably the scope of its Il-76 flights by including those countries where aircraft must be equipped with TCAS and 8.33KHz radio systems.

The global Il-76 fleet amounts to some 200 aircraft operated by Russian and foreign airlines. The Il-76 ramp allows transport of different types of cargo, including heavy machinery and equipment weighting up to 50 tons. The Il-76 plays a key role in humanitarian programmes all over the world, including disaster relief and UN humanitarian missions and takes 90% of all extraordinary cargo, most of which can not be delivered at all by Western-built aircraft.