Aeroflot exec axed over traveller chaos

Aeroflot-Russian Airlines has fired deputy chief executive Vladimir Smirnov following the recent stranding of several thousands of travelers at airports in Moscow, Bloomberg News reported.

Smirnov was dismissed due to "failures that provoked disruption of the company's work between December 26 and December 29," Aeroflot, Russia's biggest carrier, said in a prepared statement.

Some 20,000 people were stranded at Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports, waiting out multiple-day delays in squalid conditions during the busiest travel period ahead of the much-celebrated New Year holiday.

Aeroflot blamed freezing rain that coated planes with thick ice for the travel problems, which have since eased.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)