Additional info appearing over the weekend:
"Figures from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), however, show that the risks involved in flying in Russia have decreased in recent years and that the country's safety record is now better than that of the US and above average globally.
In 1997, 1998 and 1999, the number of plane crashes per 100,000 flight-hours in Russia was so low that it effectively counted as zero. Over the same three years, the number of US plane crashes per 100,000 flight-hours were 0.021, 0.006 and 0.012 respectively, while the world averages were 0.080, 0.060 and 0.050 respectively, according to the ICAO.
Aeroflot still features largely on Russia's international connections, with a 15 per cent market share. The other Russian carriers together have 32 per cent of the market, while foreign airlines control the remaining 53 per cent.
Aeroflot is also the largest domestic carrier, running 10 per cent of all internal flights.
Aeroflot's record of crashes was even better than the national average, a recent study noted.
Despite such findings, many Russian aircraft are older than the international average and there is a lack of investment in the necessary infrastructure on the ground. The average age of international air fleets is 8.7 years, while Aeroflot planes are on average 10.3 years old. The majority of planes used by Russian airlines are more than 18 years old. As a result, maintenance costs are high at a time when many companies are struggling financially.
In the early 1990s, Russian aircrews often allowed extra standing passengers on board in exchange for bribes in hard currency. Some crashes were attributed to the excess weight carried by the aircraft.
In one case in 1994, a pilot allowed his young son to sit at the flight controls. The boy accidentally switched off the automatic pilot, causing the Aeroflot plane travelling from Moscow to Hong Kong to nosedive into the ground, killing 75 people.
Stricter discipline has eliminated cases of this kind and maintenance schedules are now more punctually observed."