Egyptian charter company banned from Switzerland

The Egyptian charter company whose plane crashed into the Red Sea killing 148 people had been banned from flying to Switzerland for more than a year because of technical problems, a civil aviation official said today.

“A series of safety shortcomings showed up in a plane of Flash Airlines during a routine security check at Zurich Airport in October 2002,” said Celestine Perissinotto, spokeswoman for the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation, confirming Swiss and French television reports.