Russia’s federal aviation authority is looking to ground Tatarstan Airlines after an inspection of the carrier discovered a number of operational problems.

Rosaviatsia says the findings emerged from an unscheduled inspection of the Kazan-based operator, which suffered the fatal loss of a Boeing 737-500 in November.

These included “significant weaknesses” in Tatarstan Airlines’ operations, including training of personnel and organisation of crew duty schedules.

Rosaviatsia says that, in view of the “discrepancies” with standard requirements, it is recommending annulment of the airline’s operating certificate.

Other carriers in Tatarstan will also be subjected to similar inspections, it adds, while checks will be conducted to see whether Tatarstan Airlines’ operations were previously thoroughly evaluated.

Tatarstan Airlines points out that Rosaviatsia’s declaration about certificate revocation is only a recommendation and that, in the absence of any formal decision to suspend the carrier’s activities, flights are “continuing as normal”.

Source: Cirium Dashboard