Russia announces plan to ground all Boeing 737s in the country
Regulator says flying certificates for all the aircraft will be suspended until request for safety checks arising from 2013 crash has been satisfied
It is estimated the suspension could affect about 200 Boeing 737s operating in Russia.
Russia’s airline regulator said it was suspending flying certificates for Boeing 737s in use in the country until it receives notification that the planes are safe to fly.
The statement by the country’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), dated 4 November, did not immediately ground flights. A spokesman for Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation watchdog, which is obliged to comply with IAC safety recommendations, said it had not been notified, so there was no order yet to suspend flights.
The IAC said the suspension would remain in effect until it received notification from Rosaviatsia and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the safety of Boeing 737 control surfaces on the tail that help steer it.
The IAC announcement came after an Airbus A321 airliner registered in Ireland but operated by a Russian company crashed in Egypt on Saturday and killed 224 people. However, the statement did not make a link between the certificate suspension and the crash in Egypt. The IAC could not be reached for further comment.
There are about 200 Boeing 737s in Russia, according to Reuters calculations based on data from Rosaviatsia, or about a fifth of a total fleet, both passenger and cargo.
Late on Thursday, the FAA released a statement noting Russia’s concern about the tail control surfaces dated back to a crash in 2013 of a 737 operated by Tatarstan Airlines that killed all 50 people on board.
Video footage from 2013 shows rescue workers pouring foam on the wreckage of the Boeing 737 plane which crashed at Kazan international airport in Tatarstan“The FAA is assisting the Russian accident investigation authority as an ‘adviser’ to the NTSB [US National Transportation Safety Board], which was appointed a US ‘accredited representative’ for the investigation into the 2013 Boeing 737 accident in Kazan, Russia,” the FAA said.
The FAA declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation.
A Rosaviatsya spokesman added that a meeting was planned for Friday between Russian airlines, Rosaviatsya and the IAC – which oversees the aviation industry in some ex-Soviet countries including Russia – about Boeing 737 certificates.
A Boeing spokesman in Seattle said the company planned on Friday to “meet with Russian officials to understand their concerns”.
The biggest number of 737s is held by private airline UTair, followed by Transaero, which stopped flights last week, and Russia’s biggest carrier, state-controlled Aeroflot group. UTair and Aeroflot declined to comment.
The entire fleet of Aeroflot unit Pobeda, a low-cost carrier established in 2014, is made up of Boeing 737s.
In a separate statement, the IAC said it wanted all foreign planes operating in Russia to be re-registered on home soil, after the plane crash in Egypt.
“Over 95% of all foreign aircraft operated in Russia and accounting for over 85% of all passenger flights, including Aeroflot, are registered and are in the registers of foreign countries,” IAC said.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...plan-to-ground-all-boeing-737s-in-the-country
Regulator says flying certificates for all the aircraft will be suspended until request for safety checks arising from 2013 crash has been satisfied
It is estimated the suspension could affect about 200 Boeing 737s operating in Russia.
Russia’s airline regulator said it was suspending flying certificates for Boeing 737s in use in the country until it receives notification that the planes are safe to fly.
The statement by the country’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), dated 4 November, did not immediately ground flights. A spokesman for Rosaviatsia, Russia’s aviation watchdog, which is obliged to comply with IAC safety recommendations, said it had not been notified, so there was no order yet to suspend flights.
The IAC said the suspension would remain in effect until it received notification from Rosaviatsia and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the safety of Boeing 737 control surfaces on the tail that help steer it.
The IAC announcement came after an Airbus A321 airliner registered in Ireland but operated by a Russian company crashed in Egypt on Saturday and killed 224 people. However, the statement did not make a link between the certificate suspension and the crash in Egypt. The IAC could not be reached for further comment.
There are about 200 Boeing 737s in Russia, according to Reuters calculations based on data from Rosaviatsia, or about a fifth of a total fleet, both passenger and cargo.
Late on Thursday, the FAA released a statement noting Russia’s concern about the tail control surfaces dated back to a crash in 2013 of a 737 operated by Tatarstan Airlines that killed all 50 people on board.
Video footage from 2013 shows rescue workers pouring foam on the wreckage of the Boeing 737 plane which crashed at Kazan international airport in Tatarstan“The FAA is assisting the Russian accident investigation authority as an ‘adviser’ to the NTSB [US National Transportation Safety Board], which was appointed a US ‘accredited representative’ for the investigation into the 2013 Boeing 737 accident in Kazan, Russia,” the FAA said.
The FAA declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation.
A Rosaviatsya spokesman added that a meeting was planned for Friday between Russian airlines, Rosaviatsya and the IAC – which oversees the aviation industry in some ex-Soviet countries including Russia – about Boeing 737 certificates.
A Boeing spokesman in Seattle said the company planned on Friday to “meet with Russian officials to understand their concerns”.
The biggest number of 737s is held by private airline UTair, followed by Transaero, which stopped flights last week, and Russia’s biggest carrier, state-controlled Aeroflot group. UTair and Aeroflot declined to comment.
The entire fleet of Aeroflot unit Pobeda, a low-cost carrier established in 2014, is made up of Boeing 737s.
In a separate statement, the IAC said it wanted all foreign planes operating in Russia to be re-registered on home soil, after the plane crash in Egypt.
“Over 95% of all foreign aircraft operated in Russia and accounting for over 85% of all passenger flights, including Aeroflot, are registered and are in the registers of foreign countries,” IAC said.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...plan-to-ground-all-boeing-737s-in-the-country
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