The emergency landing of the A-310, which was flying from the Turkish resort of Antalia to Moscow, followed the Sunday crash of a similar plane that belonged to S7 in Siberia with the loss of at least 124 passengers and crew.
"During a flight from Antalia to Moscow, an alarm indicating problems with an engine ignition system went off," a ministry representative said. "Although this problem could not affect the plane in flight, the pilot decided to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport in the interests of passenger safety with consideration for the heightened interest in S7 after yesterday's crash in Irktusk."
The press service of S7, formerly Sibir, said earlier Monday that the A-310 had made a forced landing after the crew detected a low level of engine oil during the charter flight.
The Airbus, which was carrying 243 passengers and eight crew, landed without any problems at the airport in the Black Sea resort of Simferopol.
"While flying charter flight 1822 from Antalia to Moscow and after a technical service in Antalia, the crew noticed the oil level dropping in one engine," a company spokesperson said. "For safety reasons, the pilot made the decision to land at Simferopol airport."
The plane in Sunday's tragedy was making a routine flight from Moscow to the city of Irkutsk, about 3,000 miles east of the capital and the home airport for popular tourist destination Lake Baikal. The airliner, which the company said early Monday had 195 passengers and eight crew on board, veered off the runway on landing and burst into flames after hitting a concrete wall.
