MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian aviation governing body and the Ministry of Transport will have to decide whether to decommission the Tu-154 aircraft, one of which was involved in a deadly Sunday crash over the Black Sea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
On Sunday, Russian Tu-154 plane heading to Hmeymim airbase in Syria’s Latakia crashed in the Black Sea. The aircraft was carrying musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the official choir of the Russian army, as well as military personnel and reporters, to congratulate servicemen at the base on the New Year. All 92 people on board are feared dead.
"This is the question for our aviation authority and the Ministry of Transport," Peskov said, when asked about the further service of Tu-154 planes.
On Sunday, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said that it would be "premature" to decommission the aircraft.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the crashed Tu-154 aircraft was built in 1983 and spent 6,689 hours in flight. The recent technical maintenance of the plane was conducted in September 2016.
