MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - Aeroflot Russian Airlines has suspended the operation of six IL-96-300 planes from its fleet.
According to an official Aeroflot statement, the head the Russian Federal Transport Supervision Service Rostransnadzor ordered the suspension of all IL-96-300 planes from service in all airlines because of manufacturing defects and the manufacturer's failure to correct them.
IL-96-300 constitutes 40% of Aeroflot's long-range fleet.
Aeroflot is making changes to its regular flight schedule and will use alternative planes for certain routes.
Beginning Monday, Aeroflot is canceling all flights to Hanoi and some flights to Beijing, Seoul, Toronto and Washington. It will use Il-86 planes for flights to Delhi and Khabarovsk, Il-62 planes for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Boeing-767 planes for Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Seoul, A321-319 planes for London and Nice and A320 aircraft for Geneva.
"Despite the difficulties, Aeroflot is taking urgent measures to meet its obligations to passengers," the airline said.
Aeroflot has set up a crisis center and stepped up cooperation with partner air carriers.
The Il-96-300 is a long-range, wide-body plane produced by the Voronezh aircraft factory. It was developed in 1978 and has been in operation since 1993. It is designed for 11,000-km flights and holds up to 300 passengers and 40 metric tons of cargo.
There are thirteen of the planes in operation in the country. The state transport company, Rossiya, operates two, Aeroflot six and other Russian airlines five.
