Russia’s top budget airline has sacked one of its deputy heads and formally reprimanded its director after one of its passenger planes traced a phallic-like route in the sky during a commercial flight, an industry source told reporters on Tuesday.
Aeroflot’s low-cost carrier, Pobeda Airlines, came under scrutiny when one of its Moscow-Yekaterinburg flights veered from its path on Nov. 11 for what an official report said were irregular maneuvers with 102 passengers on board.
Russian media cast the phallic-like route as a show of public support for soccer star Artyom Dzyuba, who had been dropped from the Russia national team after the leak of a private, intimate video featuring a man similar to him.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Pobeda’s board on Tuesday reprimanded general director Andrey Kalmykov and sacked one of his deputies at a meeting over the incident, a source told reporters.
The RBC media outlet, citing its own source, reported the same details.
Aeroflot confirmed that Pobeda had held a board meeting, but declined to comment further.
Pobeda and the national Rosaviatsia authority declined to comment.
The aviation authority last month recommended that Kalmykov be sacked over the incident in an internal report that was leaked on social media and confirmed to reporters by a source.
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