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Fidel Force One (Read 279 times)
Mar 11th, 2006 at 4:19am

ozzy72   Offline
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Cuba is buying one of Russia's most up-to-date airliners, carefully crafted for President Fidel Castro's personal comfort.
The purchase is part of an initial Cuban order for two brand new Ilyushin planes worth $110 million (£63 million) which Russian officials say is a shot in the arm for their struggling airline industry.
To head off criticism that a new presidential jet is an expensive luxury in austere times, Cuba says one of its new planes is being used to ferry workers to and from Venezuela.
To finance the deal, Cuba has paid 15% of the total sum up front, the rest coming from a 10-year loan from Russian banks.
Russian NTV Mir television said the designers at Ilyushin had worked hard to give Mr Castro as smooth and secure a journey as possible.
"This is a sofa bed on which he can spend his hours of rest or read a book from his own library. Everything has been designed to be as ergonomic as possible, with a personal reading lamp," designer Aleksandr Kuchukhidze told the channel.
The interior of President Castro's new presidential plane
Designers have used beige colours throughout the plane
Principal interior designer Anton Nikolayev added: "Beige colours will predominate. Business meetings and talks can be held here."
The station showed the little luxuries the president could expect: a DVD player, drinks bar and leather seats. But security is paramount too: the plane comes with armoured cockpit doors and a system for making bombs safe.
The report showed the Ilyushin Il-96-300, built in Voronezh, being handed over at Havana's Jose Marti airport. It said the order was one of the biggest the Voronezh Ilyushin plant had secured this decade.
"These are the first Russian civilian aircraft to have been exported in the last 15 years," Ilyushin finance director Aleksandr Rubtsov said.
"We are convinced that Cuba can become a springboard for exporting our planes, above all in the countries of Latin America."
Russia and Cuba plan to sign another contract in Cuba on 10 March for the supply of a further five airliners, for an undisclosed sum.
Cuba has been a key customer of Soviet-built aircraft - whether civilian Ilyushins or military MiGs - since the Cold War era.
Even today, Cuban pilots for the newest Ilyushins are being trained in Russia, and Ilyushin engineers are in to Havana to school ground crews on maintaining the planes.
 

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Reply #1 - Mar 11th, 2006 at 9:49am

TacitBlue   Offline
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That's great, meanwhile the average Cuban makes as much money in a week as most of us do in a few hours.  Undecided Why does old Fidel need a personal aircraft anyway? I didn't think that he did that much traveling.
 

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Reply #2 - Mar 11th, 2006 at 9:53am

Ivan   Offline
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2x il-96-300 on order.
One will be the VIP machine and the other one will probably replace the Il-62 or will do the transatlantic stuff.

The other 5 are most likely Tu-204's... for tourist charter work
 

Russian planes: IL-76 (all standard length ones),  Tu-154 and Il-62, Tu-134 and An-24RV&&&&AI flightplans and repaints can be found here
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Reply #3 - Mar 14th, 2006 at 11:40pm
cheesegrater   Ex Member

 
"These are the first Russian civilian aircraft to have been exported in the last 15 years"

Western european companies DHL and TNT use the Tu-204. Isn't this a new aircraft?
 
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Reply #4 - Mar 15th, 2006 at 5:08pm

Ivan   Offline
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No, I'm NOT Russian, I
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TNT and DHL ones are leased from Tupolev Plant. Both have them operated by Air Cairo pilots.

The Air Cairo pax ones that DHL used are possibly at their final customer now (Mahan Air) if they aren't planning to go for the PS-90 engine for the final deal.

Mahan actually bought the aircraft while Air Cairo leased it, so Air Cairo had to return them to the factory where they were sold to the final customer. They still have the Egypt registrations though.

So while they do have a non-russian registration (makes things easier checks wise) they still are OWNED by a Russian company
 

Russian planes: IL-76 (all standard length ones),  Tu-154 and Il-62, Tu-134 and An-24RV&&&&AI flightplans and repaints can be found here
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Reply #5 - Mar 18th, 2006 at 10:53pm
cheesegrater   Ex Member

 
There are pictures of the Cuban Il-96 on anet. The weird thing is the aircraft doesn't have a center overhead baggage compartment.

I find it odd that Fidel is getting a personal airplane. I don't think he travels a lot.

Also, you should post the source article. Roll Eyes
 
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