MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s civil aviation authority said Friday that it was withdrawing the operating licence for Tatarstan Airlines, a month after a crash that killed 50 people.
The airline will be grounded from December 31 in response to “noncompliance by the airline with certification requirements for Russia’s civil aviation, violations of the established norms of flying hours, working and relaxation time” and other breaches, Rosaviatsia said in a statement.
The action follows the air disaster in which a Boeing 737-500 operated by Tatarstan Airlines crashed at Kazan International Airport on a flight from Moscow, killing everyone on board. Irek Minnikhanov, a son of Tatarstan’s President Rustam Minnikhanov, and Lt. General Alexander Antonov, head of the republic’s branch of the Federal Security Service, were among the victims.
Rosaviatsia said in early December that it had found breaches of the rules in Tatarstan Airlines’ personnel training and rest times for flight and cabin crew, and recommended revoking the company’s licence. It also promised snap inspections of other airlines in the republic of Tatarstan.
Since the Kazan disaster, several Russian politicians have called for new legislation to ban local airlines from using aircraft that are more than 20 years old. A draft bill introducing that measure has been sent to parliament.
The aircraft that crashed at Kazan was over 20 years old. MAK officials have said, however, that the age of the Boeing had nothing to do with the crash and that Boeing jets in operation in Russia were generally no older than those in service in the West.
