Yemen defends airline’s safety

Yemen’s transport minister said the stricken plane had passed an inspection in May, supervised by Airbus engineers, and in line with international standards.

The aircraft was on the second leg of the flight. Many of the passengers on board had flown from Paris on a different plane. French Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau said: “The questions of the families are focusing on the state of the plane at the time of the accident. The fact that the aircraft was old is not necessarily reprehensible. There are old planes, well maintained, flying in a perfectly safe condition. The plane that left Paris – an Airbus A330 – was in perfect health, otherwise it wouldn’t have been allowed to take-off and land in Paris. The families are asking to know if the second plane that was their connecting flight, was of the same quality. And that’s what the inquiry will check.” The European Transport Commission said the state of the aircraft gave officials reason to start an inquiry into the airline’s safety record in 2007. The Commissioner said he now wants a worldwide blacklist of airlines, like the one operating in the EU now.

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