Problem Aboard President Putin's Plane Leads To Industry-Wide Order

Aeroflot calls it a critical situation -- the grounding of Ilyushin IL-96-300s after a technical glitch forced Russian President Vladimir Putin to switch to a backup aircraft.

"It's a critical situation for us," Aeroflot Deputy General Director Lev Koshlyakov said in televised remarks. He was quoted by Reuters.

"In August 2005 there were a number of incidents involving Il-96-300 that affected flight safety," the Transport Ministry said in a statement, also quoted by Reuters. The problem appears to center on the plane's brakes. "Similar incidents had happened before, too."

The problem is critical for Aeroflot, because it owns seven of the 13 IL-96-300s now in service. Aeroflot said it had to cancel several flights to the US, Canada, Vietnam, China and South Korea. The airline says it's now switching to Boeing and Airbus aircraft and will put the IL-96-300s back into service when able.

It's also a big problem for Ilyushin. The decision to ground the IL-96-300s comes just days before the big MAKS air show in Moscow and Ilyushin was reportedly ready to cinch a number of deals for the aircraft at the event.

FMI: www.kremlin.ru/eng