Ban Follows Two IL-76 Incidents

China's had enough.

After two mishaps -- one deadly -- involving Ilyushin IL-76 cargo aircraft chartered from the former Soviet Union, China has banned such flights indefinitely.

Regularly scheduled cargo flights flown by Aeroflot and Volga-Dneper will continue unaffected, according to the Moscow Times.

But for charter cargo carriers, the ban, however, temporary, will be expensive. Russian carriers estimate they'll lose $3 million in business between now and the time they're recertified.

The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration says all charter cargo carriers will have to be recertified, but gave no timetable. Still, Russian companies are hopeful it won't last long.

"We believe [recertification] will take two to three months," said Igor Kornilov, commercial director of Atlant-Soyuz. That company flies 14 Il-76s -- most of them cargo haulers destined for China.

The Chinese decision came after an Azeri-owned IL-76 crash-landed on a cattle farm just after takeoff from Urumqi, China. All seven crewmembers aboard were killed. The same day, a Kazakh IL-76 taking off from the same airport suffered damage to its nosegear.

The IL-76, a mainstay in both military and civilian aviation across the former Soviet Union, has been involved in a number of crashes and incidents over the past several years. But some airlines that fly from the Commonwealth of Independent States, successor to the Soviet Union, say they're getting a raw deal.

"Chinese officials are simply scared [to continue charter flights], but it is their fault. They should ensure control in their airports," said one airline official who asked not to be identified. Russian cargo carriers say Chinese ground crews routinely overload the IL-76s that fly into and out of China.

FMI: www.chinaonline.com/refer/ministry_profiles/c01022767.asp