According to Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, the deadly May crash of Russia’s ill-fated Sukhoi SSJ-100 Superjet in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, in which 41 people died and 10 were injured, has not affected ‘commercial demand’ for these aircraft.
“This was not related to flight safety. This was an issue linked to a human factor and therefore it could not influence and has not influenced to date the desire to purchase and use these aircraft,” the minister said in recent interview.
A Sukhoi SSJ-100 of the Aeroflot airline, which took off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for Murmansk on May 5, had to return to the airport in about 30 minutes after its departure, making an emergency landing and bursting into flames. There were 73 passengers and five crewmembers on board. A total of 41 people died in the crash while 10 others were injured.
Investigators have opened a criminal case into the “violation of flight safety rules and aircraft operation that entailed the death of two and more people through negligence.” They are considering several versions of the incident, including the pilots’ insufficient skills, a technical failure and unfavorable weather conditions.
