Urals Joyride Plane Airline ‘Stripped of Licence’

A domestic Russian airline that had a light aircraft go missing in the Ural mountains last month after being hijacked by a party of revelers has been barred from flying, Russia’s air transport watchdog said on Tuesday.

The license of Avi-Azov, operator of an Antonov An-2 biplane which was reported missing from an airfield in the town of Serov on June 11, was withdrawn after an inquiry.

“After an inquiry, the airline’s flying certificate has been annulled,” the body’s Urals regional head Alexander Shulepov told journalists.

The Emergencies Ministry says a search and rescue operation continues for the plane, which regional police say was being used to spot forest fires. Pilot Khatib Kashapov and 12 revelers, including the town’s chief of traffic police, were on board the aircraft.

There has been no response to calls to revelers’ mobile phones. The men had been drinking and decided either to go on a fishing trip or to have a steam bath, police said.

The aircraft had been used “almost daily” for illegal flights, the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid reported last month.

 

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