"So far, we do not see a plane in the Il-96 category that we can offer to the market and which will be 15% better than the aircraft available today. The Il-96 family will gradually cease to exist and there is no replacement for it yet," Viktor Khristenko told Kommersant business daily.
Khristenko said Russia would "seek cooperation with partners and the possibility of risk sharing" in this market niche.
"There is an option to create a plane linked to such markets as India and China where passenger flows are large and distances are not very great, which suggests planes like Il-96 will be required. This means we are ready to participate in a project for a 'large plane,' as our Chinese colleagues call it. Meanwhile, we do not have our own market niche for such planes," Khristenko said.
Il-96 planes, which can carry up to 300 passengers, have been produced since 1992 in Russia.
In 2005, flights by the basic models of Il-96-300 planes were suspended due to problems with their braking systems.
Khristenko said Tu-204/Tu-214 medium-range airliners would stay in operation until they were replaced by MS-21 mid-haulers, expected to join the market by 2015.
At the same time, Khristenko said Sukhoi SuperJet (SSJ) short-range planes could be effective on international markets.
The SuperJet-100 project is a family of medium-range passenger aircraft developed by the Sukhoi design bureau in cooperation with major American and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace, and Honeywell.
