«Transaero» is being examined

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   In the beginning of October Boeing-747 of Transaero airline resumed its flights after it broke down on the 25th of September in Monastir airport in Tunisia. The incident was widely discussed on several internet forums. Before it took off a ball of fire shot out from one of the engines, scaring the passengers. It took more than 24 hours for a reserve plane to arrive. As BANKO Information service found out, after fixing the problem in the airport, the plane independently flew to the maintenance site in one of the European countries. The maintenance work was done in several days, after which the Boeing returned to the air.
   Meantime, a group of passengers of the damaged plane from Moscow addressed to the Consumer’s Association where the complaint was readily handled with the intention to publicise the story. Currently the passengers plan to find a lawyer who will agree to represent their interests. According to Georgiy Mokhov, a director of a law agency ‘Persona Grata’, it is incredibly difficult to evaluate the chances of the plaintiff if the case comes to the court, as the degree of guilt in this case can only be estimated by the court. ‘It is a common practice in court when cases are dismissed for lack of evidence’, said Mokhov in the conversation with one of BANKO journalists. He also reminded that Air laws regulations dismiss the carrier from any responsibility in certain cases, e.g. in case of a technical failure.
   Transaero told one of BANKO journalists that they are ready to legally consider any complains they receive. However, according to Sergey Byikhala, Transaero PR director, they have not had any complaints yet. ‘We met our obligations to the passengers. The tourists were provided with food and given accommodation in a hotel, a reserve plane was sent out to take the tourists to the destination’, said Byikhaev.
   Yet, tour operators plan to use Boeing 747 in the coming winter season in spite of the incident. Igor Andreev, a commercial director of RTK company, hopes that the maintenance will benefit the plane and the winter flights will be safe. ‘The most important is how the company resolves problems. Transaero fixes malfunctions duly and sends reserve planes. With the current price rise on fuel, the balance of price and quality of the airline is able to meet competition’, remarked Andreev.
   Meanwhile, the investigation of causes of the incident is carried out by Rostransnadzor based on a complaint from one of the passengers. The outcome of the cases will be reported by BANKO in the next issue.