The crash also sealed Russia’s position as the most dangerous place to travel by plane in 2011, with the country surpassing even the Democratic Republic of Congo in the number of aircraft-related fatalities.
Speaking at the crash site just outside Yaroslavl on the Volga River on Thursday, Medvedev said it was about time to see how air carriers operate. - The number of [domestic] airlines should be radically reduced, he said according to Vedomosti.
The government should find money to supplement the Russian aircraft fleet with planes produced abroad and smaller companies that are not able to secure modern technical service of their planes or education of their employees, should be abolished, the president said.
Read also: Old crow to be grounded for safety reasons
According to Minister of Tranport Igor Levitin, Russia has approximately 130 airlines presently operating in the country. 85 percent of all flights are done by only ten companies. Most of the accidents have been with the smaller companies that stand for only 15 percent of all flights.
With the Yaroslavl crash, Russia has become the most dangerous country to travel by plane. A total of 121 people have been killed in seven crashes this year, while the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo places second with 106 dead in three crashes, including one by Georgian Airlines, Moscow Times writes.
In June 2011, 44 people died after a Tu-134 crashed outside the airport of Petrozavodsk in Karelia. Several of the passengers were on their way to a conference on rescue cooperations in the Barents Region.
