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Rosaviatsia Recommends Rescinding Tatarstan Airlines' Flight Certificate

A Tatarstan Airlines Boeing-737 landing at Domodedovo Airport, Moscow. Sergey Kustov

The Federal Air Transportation Agency, or Rosaviatsia, has recommended revoking Tatarstan Airlines' operating certificate over multiple flight safety violations, less than three weeks after one of the company's jets crashed in Kazan, killing 50 people.

Rosaviatsia inspectors discovered "significant shortfalls" in the company's procedures, including violations in personnel training and in crew timetables that didn't factor in enough rest-time for pilots between shifts, the agency said in a statement on its website Wednesday.

Stemming from the examination of Tatarstan Airlines, Rosaviatsia has come up with a series of measures to secure the "safe and delay-free work" of other airlines registered in the republic of Tatarstan, all of which will be inspected without forewarning.

Regional inspectors "involved in biased evaluations" of Tatarstan Airlines will also be investigated.

Tatarstan Airlines' board of directors on Wednesday voted to oust the company's chief executive Aksan Giniyatullin following the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 on route from Moscow to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, on Nov. 17.

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