The crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger aircraft, which, according to the preliminary data, was shot down by a Russian air defense system demonstrates that the ongoing armed conflict poses a threat to civil aviation, Nico Lange, a senior fellow at the Munich Security Conference, told Report.
“This was not a typical aviation security incident. This was a case of a Russian air defense missile shooting down a civilian airliner,” Lange said.
“The key issue here is Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine,” he added.
According to him, achieving a stable peace in the region is the only way to prevent such incidents from occurring again.
“Unfortunately, the Europeans are not engaging in this discussion with the necessary strength to achieve a resolution. I also doubt that what President Trump is attempting to do will lead to any meaningful progress. As for broader implications for aviation security, the most significant takeaway is that we need to stop the war and eliminate the risks of misidentifying civilian aircraft as military targets. The confusion between drones, missiles, and airliners in contested airspace is a direct consequence of the ongoing conflict, and until that is resolved, aviation security risks will persist,” Lange told Report.
A preliminary report on the investigation of the plane crash was published in early February. According to the document, the damage to the aircraft fuselage occurred as a result of external impact. The report contains no data supporting the version of a bird strike or oxygen tank explosion. It is noted that at 05:13:32, the main control systems on board failed, and only at 05:21:42 did the controller in Grozny report the start of operation Carpet.
A passenger aircraft belonging to AZAL operating the Baku-Grozny flight crashed near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024. Out of 67 people on board, 38 died and 29 survived.