Russian airline refuses to buy new Superjet aircraft after the fatal crash in Moscow
Yamal Airlines, which already owns 15 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, decided not to purchase another 10 aircraft identical to the plane that carried 41 people in Moscow on May 5, reports Radіo Liberty.
Russian news agencies quote Yamal Airlines General Director, Vasiliy Kryuk, explaining that they made this decision because of economic reasons.
At the same time, until the end of the investigation into the aircraft crash at Sheremetyevo Airport, Yamal is planning to continue operating the existing Superjet aircraft.
Yamal has the second largest Superjet fleet in Russia after the Aeroflot, which has 50 SSJ 100 aircraft.
Several foreign companies that purchased aircraft series SSJ 100 started to abandon their operation at the end of 2018. The Mexican company Interjet, which purchased 22 such airliners in Russia completely refused to use them. The Belgian airline Brussels Airlines and the Irish CityJet made the same decision.
On the evening of May 5, the Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet-100 (SSJ-100) plane flew from Moscow to Murmansk carrying onboard 78 people. Almost immediately after takeoff, the crew requested an emergency landing and lost radio contact.
The plane had a hard landing hitting the runway surface several times, damaged the landing gear and caught fire. 41 persons died in the fire at the tail of the aircraft as a result of the tragedy.
The Authorities of the Murmansk region in Russia declared a three-day mourning.
The cause of the disaster is still unknown. Russian authorities assumed that the plane could have been damaged by lightning, as a result of which “automatic equipment failed”.