MetroJet (Russian Federation) (Moscow Domodedovo) has suspended operations until summer of next year following the Russian government's recent decision to embargo charter flights to Turkey over the latter's shooting down of a Russian Air Force fighter jet earlier this month.
The leisure operator was already under considerable strain in the wake of the bombing of one of its A321-200s over the Sinai peninsula in October which killed all 217 passengers and 7 crew on-board. Moscow subsequently barred all Russian carriers from serving the North African country as a safety precaution.
As such, Russia's Gazeta newspaper indicates that with its two largest sources of revenue now gone, Metrojet has been forced to send most of its 343 employees on paid leave.
In a bid to get some financial relief, Ismail Lepiyev, the owner and founder of Metrojet's parent firm TH&C (Tourism Holding & Consulting), has told Forbes magazine that the airline will seek compensation from the Egyptian authorities for the bombing of flight 7K9268 in October. Lepiyev said he will attempt to reach a settlement with the Egyptian government without having to resort to the courts.
Though Cairo has yet to publish its own findings, Moscow has already announced that the aircraft, which had just taken off from Sharm el Sheikh bound for St. Petersburg, was downed by a bomb containing 1kg of TNT. Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate Wilayat Sinaa (formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis) has already claimed responsibility.
