Russia grounds Airbus A321 jets as investigations continue into Sinai Peninsula air crash

UPDATE:

The Russian airline Kogalymavia has blamed “external activity” for Saturday’s deadly Sinai plane crash which killed 224 people.
Its director general said: “The only reasonable explanation is that it was [due to] external activity.”
A previous tail strike in 2001 was repaired fully, another company official said.
A Kremlin spokesman has told the BBC terrorism could not be ruled out as a possible cause of the crash.

Russia’s Transport Safety Watchdog has grounded all Metrojet Airbus A321 Flights.

Rostransnadzor, Russia’s transport safety watchdog, issued a statement on Sunday grounding the Kogalymavia (Metrojet) fleet of Airbus A321s until the causes of the crash are established.

The statement adds that all necessary preventive measures must be adopted to guarantee an acceptable safety level of flights in accordance with the regulations stated by the company, TASS news agency reported.

Rostransnadzor authorities also announced the beginning of a comprehensive ‘revision’ of the Kogalymavia company until November 30th.

An Airbus team is on standby to assist Russian Authorities with its investigation into the Sinai Peninsula air disaster.

Senior Russian aviation official confirmed the plane broke up in mid-air, Viktor Sorochenko said it was too early to draw conclusions about the causes of the disaster.

Germany’s Lufthansa, Air France and Dubai-based Emirates have all said they are not flying over Sinai until there are more details around the cause.

Airbus issued a statement on Saturday offering sympathies from employees and confirming the details of the jet:

“The concerns and sympathy of the Airbus employees go to all those affected by this tragic accident of Flight 7K-9268.

The aircraft involved in the accident, registered under EI-ETJ was MSN (Manufacturer Serial Number) 663, was produced in 1997 and since 2012 operated by Metrojet.

The aircraft had accumulated some 56000 flight hours in nearly 21000 flights. It was powered by IAE-V2500 engines. At this time no further factual information is available.

In line with ICAO annex 13, an Airbus go-team of technical advisors stands-by ready to provide full technical assistance to French Investigation Agency – BEA – and to the Authorities in charge of the investigation.”

Airbus said they will make further ‘factual information’ available as soon as the details have been confirmed and cleared by the authorities for release.