Foreign airlines cancel flights over Russia after Azerbaijani plane crash
Azebaijan Airlines (AZAL) has decided to cancel flights to seven Russian cities after its aircraft failed to land in Grozny and crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan.
Source: The Moscow Times with reference to APA
Details: From 28 December 2024, the airline will no longer operate flights from Baku to Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara, Grozny and Makhachkala.
This decision was made due to "the results of the early investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft and possible risks to flight safety," the company said in a statement.
Flights will not be resumed until the final investigation into the causes of the crash is completed. Nevertheless, the company will continue flights to Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Astrakhan, Kazan, and Novosibirsk.
Qazaq Air, a Kazakh airline, has also announced the suspension of flights from Astana to Yekaterinburg. The flights will not be operated from 28 December 2024 until 27 January 2025.
"The suspension of flights was made to ensure the safety of passengers and crew members based on the results of an ongoing risk assessment of flights to Russia," the company said in a statement. However, they will continue to operate flights to Omsk and Novosibirsk.
The day before, on 26 December, Israel's national carrier El Al announced the suspension of flights to Moscow for a week "due to events in Russian airspace".
The pilots do not want to fly to Russia after the plane crash, sources at AZAL said. "The Russians did not just shoot down our plane but also did not allow it to land at their own airfields. At least, this is the main version in the pilot community. Where is the guarantee that this will not happen again? No one wants to take any risks," one of the sources said.
Background:
- On 25 December, an Embraer aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines en route from Baku to Grozny crashed near Aktau, the administrative centre of Kazakhstan's Mangistau Oblast. According to Azerbaijan Airlines, 67 people were on board, including five crew members. Of these, 42 were citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 were Russians, six were Kazakhs, and three were Kyrgyz nationals.
- The crash killed 38 people, said Kanat Bozumbayev, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and head of the state commission leading the investigation into the causes of the crash.
- Euronews sources indicate that the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny on 25 December was caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile that exploded nearby.
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