The new Il-96 featured larger wings, a shorter fuselage, new modern avionics and systems, and, perhaps most important, the new PS-90A high-bypass turbofan, which greatly decreased fuel consumption and increased overall performance.

[3] The Cuban Government newspaper Granma announced on 3 January 2006 the first official flight of the Cubana Il-96-300, from Havana to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In particular, the Il-96-300 had been deemed inferior to counterparts from Boeing and Airbus, and the manufacturer could not arrange commercially viable mass production, making only one aircraft per year.

This decision was taken due to the current diplomatic situation between Russia and the West, and the dependency of the Russian aerospace industry on Airbus and Boeing.

[6] In March 2022, after International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War, the CEO of Rostec Sergey Chemezov announced a large scale production relaunch of the Il-96.

The avionics correspond to modern requirements on international routes in Europe and North America (RNP-1) and allow navigation and landing under ICAO CAT III/A conditions.

The Il-96-300 is the initial variant and is fitted with Aviadvigatel (Soloviev) PS-90A turbofans with a thrust rating of 16,000 kgf (157 kN, 35,300 lbf).

[citation needed] Range with 262 passengers and fuel reserves (for holding 75 minutes at an altitude of 450 m) in a two-class configuration is about 11,000 km (5,940 nmi), allowing flights from Moscow to US west coast cities, a great improvement over the Ilyushin Il-86.

[citation needed] Four were used by Russian president Vladimir Putin, and by Dmitry Medvedev as VIP planes.

It features a 10 m (30 ft) fuselage stretch, is 15 tonnes (33,000 lb) heavier, is fitted with Western-style avionics, and is powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW2337 engines with a thrust rating of 165 kN (37,000 lbf).

Development on the M/T variant stalled when the US Export–Import Bank suspended talks on financing the engines and avionics, following pressure from Boeing.

The dispute was later settled following an Aeroflot order for ten Boeing 737-400s—placed in April 1997 in a deal worth US$440 million that were granted a tax exemption by the Russian government.

[10] The plane received an overhaul prior to being leased in order to make sure it met air worthiness standards.

[13] A special version, dubbed Il-96-400VT, was reported on Friday 19 March 2010 by the Wall Street Journal to bid on the US$40 billion Air Force Tanker Program contract.

[15] One modified Il-96-400, the Il-96-400VPU is being converted to serve as an Airborne Command Post by the Russian Aerospace Forces as part of "Project Zveno-3S" calling for two such aircraft to enter service to replace the current Il-80-based planes.

[19] By January 2020, the first test-flight airframe was in final assembly and the wing and fuselage were joined, to be finished at the end of 2020 before a first flight in 2021,[20] but by April 2021 it was announced that the aircraft will not enter mass production as expected because of "lack of interest from the airlines and the worldwide idling of the long-range fleet due to the pandemic".

[27] According to Alexei Krivoruchko, Russian Deputy Minister of Defense, factory trials of the Il-96-400TZ are expected to be completed in May, 2020.