Relatives of the victims of the flydubai (FZ981) plane crash weep for their loved ones at Rostov-on-Don airport on Sunday. - AFP
Dubai - The chief executive also emphasised that all speculation should be avoided and we should wait for the result of investigation.
Published: Sun 20 Mar 2016, 11:00 PM
Last updated: Mon 21 Mar 2016, 2:32 PM
Flydubai is focusing on two key priorities - care for victims' families and support investigation - chief executive officer Ghaith Al Ghaith told reporters on Sunday during a media briefing.
Latest development: FlyDubai crash: Blood samples of victims' family sent to Russia
The chief executive also emphasised that all speculation should be avoided and we should wait for the result of investigation. The news conference was also addressed by James Vile, senior vice-president - flight operations, flydubai.
"In the immediate aftermath of the accident, we have been focusing on two key priorities: care for all those who have been affected by the accident and support for the investigating authorities as they work to identify the cause," Al Ghaith said.
He added: ".we are working to establish how we can most effectively provide care and support to the families of the 55 passengers and 7 crew members who lost their lives. We now have our own specially trained care teams both on the ground in Rostov-on-Don and in Dubai. We are making arrangements for the families who wish to visit the scene of the accident, to do so. We would ask that at such a sensitive time all the families be given the space they need to grieve."
Al Ghaith declined to release the names of passengers and said: "We are not going to release the names of passengers until we know their families have been told first." flydubai is making arrangements for families to visit Moscow, he added.
Talking about the investigation, he said: "We have specialists from our engineering, safety and security departments on the ground at the crash site. They will be working with authorised authorities to help them identify the cause of the accident as soon as possible. They are there to provide expertise and any information the air accident investigators might need."
Regarding speculation about the plane crash reasons, the CEO said: "We are aware that, in the course of the past 24 hours, there has been a great deal of speculation as to the cause of this tragedy. We share the desire to get answers as quickly as possible but at this stage we must not be drawn into speculation. We would ask that the investigating authorities are given the time and space they need to report definitively on the causes of the accident."
Regarding the aircraft's Black Box, James Vile said, "We cannot speculate what is in the Black Box. There is a set process that is being followed." As per the Russian authorities, the weather was good enough to land and the airport was operational, Vile replied to a question.
The aircraft was fully insured, according to Al Ghaith. The $20,000 payment, the airline has announced, is part of the initial payment to victims' families and the remaining will be paid after the investigations, he added.
Responding a question what efforts are being made to increase passengers' trust, Al Ghaith said the priority now is to care for the families of passengers and crew. "After concluding the investigation, we are going to focus more on increasing the trust levels," he said.
The chief denied rumours that the pilots were flying to the airport for the first time, and reiterated that both the pilot and co-pilot were very experienced.
abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com
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