flydubai - Statement from CEO

Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, has today released a statement updating the situation regarding the crash of Flight FZ981 at Rostov-on-Don. Following is the statement in full: "In the immediate aftermath of the accident we have been focusing on two key priorities; care for all those who have been affected by the accident and support for the investigating authorities as they work to identify the cause.

To begin with, we are working to establish how we can most effectively provide care and support to the families of the 55 passengers and 7 crew members who lost their lives. We now have our own specially trained Care Teams both on the ground in Rostov-on-Don and in Dubai. We are making arrangements for the families who wish to visit the scene of the accident, to do so. We would ask that at such a sensitive time all the families be given the space they need to grieve.

Throughout yesterday, efforts were also made to contact as many family members as possible and those efforts are continuing. As we mentioned yesterday, we are not going to release the names of passengers until we know their families have been told first.

As far as the investigation is concerned, we have specialists from our engineering, safety and security departments on the ground at the crash site. They will be working with the authorised authorities to help them identify the cause of the accident as soon as possible. They are there to provide expertise and any information the air accident investigators might need. ? I am personally leading the airline's response and, along with our senior airline management, receiving regular updates from the Emergency Response Team on the ground.

We are aware that in the course of the past 24 hours there has been a great deal of speculation as to the cause of this tragedy. We share the desire to get answers as quickly as possible but at this stage we must not be drawn into speculation. We would ask that the investigating authorities are given the time and space they need to report definitively on the causes of the accident."