Il-86: USSR's first wide body passenger airliner that the country did not needUSSR's Ilyushin-86, competition to Boeing 747, took to the skies ten years laterThe legendary Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft looked like a giant even next to the Tupolev Tu-154. The Ilyushin Il-86 is the first Soviet wide-body passenger aircraft, developed in the 1970s by the Ilyushin Design Bureau. This airliner became iconic for Soviet aviation, as it was designed for mass air travel on medium and short-haul routes. SpecificationsAircraft type: Wide-body passenger aircraft. Reliability and ease of maintenance: Like most Soviet aircraft, the Il-86 was designed with minimal technical maintenance in mind.