Azerbaijan Airlines and other carriers have suspended flights to several destinations in Russia after it emerged that Russian air defenses may have caused the crash of one of the Azeri carrier's Embraer 190s on Dec. 25.
Azerbaijan Airlines said it made the decision together with the Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation Authority based on the preliminary results of the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 operating Flight J2 8243 from Baku to Grozny. The carrier said the investigation showed that the accident was “due to physical and technical external interference,” and that its flights remain suspended until the investigation is concluded, “considering potential risks to flight safety.”
Flight J2 8243 was on approach to Grozny and tried to divert to Makhachkala before diverting farther to Aktau, Kazakhstan. There, it crashed into a field 3 mi. short of the runway after experiencing severe flight control problems for at least the last 74 min. of the flight, Flightradar24 data indicates. Footage of the wreckage shows multiple holes in the rear fuselage consistent with damage caused by air defenses.
The Kazakh government said 38 of the 67 people on board died.
Azerbaijan Airlines is discontinuing service to Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and Vladikavkaz, representing around half of its Russian network. The carrier had already stopped flights to Grozny and Makhachkala immediately after the crash.
Russian news agency TASS has reported that parts of the airspace in the country’s south have now been closed.
El Al previously said it was suspending flights to Moscow, and plans to revisit the decision in the coming days. Qazaq Air said it will not fly to Yekaterinburg until Jan. 27. “The suspension of flights was carried out to ensure the safety of passengers and crewmembers based on the results of an ongoing risk assessment of flights to Russia,” the airline said. FlyDubai is also reported to have stopped service to two Russian destinations, Sochi and Mineralnye Vody, because of security concerns.
But major Middle Eastern and Chinese carriers, including FlyDubai sister airline Emirates and Turkish Airlines, continue to fly through Russian airspace and serve destinations in the country as of Dec. 27.
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