Bashkirian Airlines lose about $50 mln. in Tu-154 crash

According to a preliminary estimation, the damages the Bashkirian Airline's suffered as a result of the July 2nd crash of the Tu-154 airliner, make approximately 50 mln. dollars, company's Managing Director Nikolai Odegov was quoted as saying at a press conference in the Ufa city.

According to him, drawing conclusions is within the special commission's scope of responsibility, but the company is positively sure that "it was the Swiss ground control, which made the two aircraft collide." He believes that this tragedy inflicted to the Bashkirian Airlines "the heaviest damage possible - both material and moral and commercial." The Managing Director said that "if negotiations fail to settle all problems, the airlines will ask for damages in the court. I believe that relatives of the killed children and crewmen will do the same." In the late hours of July 1st, the Tu-154 belonging to the Bashkirian Airlines and a Boeing-757 cargo aircraft collided over Germany killing 71 people including 52 children.