On Wednesday, May 21, 2003, at 06:50 PM, Alireza Alivandivafa wrote: > Interesting plane to be comming in. Wonder why they don't use an > IL-96M My guess is that it is not the Russian head of state arriving. He would use the primary executive transport, which is Rossiya's IL-96-300, built by Voronezh in late 2001, and then furnished by Diamonite in the UK with the presidential interior. Rossiya's IL-62 is the reserve plane now, which I've seen at Heathrow and JFK, and would be used for lesser officials and ministers. If it is Putin on board, perhaps the IL-96 was undergoing maintenance. The Rossiya VIP fleet consists of the IL-96-300, the IL-62, two TU-154Ms, two TU-134s, and two Yak-40s. I've also seen one of the Yaks at Heathrow. -- Michael C. Berch mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx