Russian Prime Minister Putin criticized airport officials over flight delay chaos

Russian Prime Minister Putin criticized airport officials over flight delay chaos

2010-12-30 00:26:54 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday criticized airport and airline officials after they failed to deal with the passengers affected in the mass flight delays in Moscow.

According to RIA Novosti, Putin questioned the efficiency of the officials as they let people to continue entering the airport as no alert was issued despite the lack of electricity that caused the delay of several flights.

Putin also informed that he prohibited the airport and airline officials from taking New Year vacations as punishment for not handling correctly the problems caused by the weather disasters. The order included the governors of Russia’s 85 regions.

On the other hand, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said that legal proceedings against two airlines, Transaero and Orenair, have been initiated over alleged violation of federal aviation rules. S7 Airlines, Utair and VIM Airlines were summoned on suspicion of similar violations.

An ice storm caused that all flights were delayed in Moscow over the weekend. The severe freezing rain caused serious power outages. Approximately 20,000 passengers were affected in the last few days by the flight delay chaos. However, airport authorities said that the affected passengers were only 10,000.

Authorities said that Transaero and Orenair failed to provide stranded passengers with services required by the federal aviation rules such as drinks and hot meals. In contrast, Aeroflot, the biggest Russian airline, announced that it will compensate the affected customers.

"We will fully compensate all departed passengers who had been stranded because of our fault, for the cost of their ticket," Aeroflot's CEO Vitaly Savelyev said.

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