afrol News, 23 June - Sudan's national airline carrier has been suspended for violating service requirements, civil aviation official said yesterday.

The suspension follows a crash by Sudan Jetliner carrying more than 200 people which burst into flames after landing at international airport in Sudan's capital, Khartoum on 10 June.

However, Head of flight operations in Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Mohamed Hassan Al-Mujammar, has said that the suspension had nothing to do with a Sudan Airways crash earlier this month which killed 30 people, saying it was solely failure to abide by Aviation measures set in May.

"As a result the company's Air Operators Certificate has been suspended from today, which will affect all international and domestic flights," he said, adding that it has a month to appeal suspension or to carry out the necessary improvements.

The airline is 30 percent owned by state, majority ownership of 49 percent having gone to the Kuwaiti Aref group a year ago, while Sudan's Al-Fina group owns 21 percent.

An official inquiry by CAA and Sudan Airways has begun into 10 June Khartoum Airbus crash, amid contradictory reports that either bad weather or technical failure was to blame.

The latest crash disaster is among the fatal air crashes and mishaps Sudan has had.

Sudan national airline has a poor aviation safety record with the recent crash in remote area of southern Sudan killing 30 people. The other incidence was in 2003 when Sudan Airways Boeing 737 en route Port Sudan to Khartoum crashed soon after takeoff, killing all 115 people on board.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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