The Egyptian charter airline whose Boeing 737 crashed into the Red Sea, killing 148 people, has been banned from flying over Swiss airspace since October 2002 due to safety concerns, an official said today.
"During an inspection we discovered that the airline was a danger to aviation security," said Ms Celestine Perissinotto, a spokeswoman for the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation. She declined to give further details.
"If a company is forbidden (to fly over national airspace)...that means the problems are serious," she said.
A Paris-bound plane, operated by the private Egyptian charter company Flash Airlines, crashed just minutes after take-off from the Egyptian tourist resort Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday, killing everybody on board.
Most of the dead are French tourists. The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation said it had informed Flash Airlines and the Egyptian aviation authorities about their concerns.
"The reaction was insufficient... The company is still banned from Switzerland," Ms Perissinotto said.