Manx2 airline insists pilots followed standard procedure in trying to land three times before accident that left six people dead
The chairman of the airline whose plane crashed and caught fire in Cork, killing six people, has denied the crew were under pressure not to return to Belfast after encountering dense fog as they came in to land.
Among the six who died in the accident on Thursday was a cousin of the Irish president, Mary McAleese. Six others survived what was the worst air accident at an Irish airport.
Noel Hayes of Manx2 said his company was totally committed to discovering what went wrong and that safety had always been a prime concern for the company.
He said the plane had no recent technical issues and underwent a routine maintenance check last week. He told Irish radio he had no reason to believe it would not have enough fuel to divert to Knock or Shannon airports and rejected any suggestion that the aircraft was under pressure not to return to Belfast.
He said the aircrew followed standard procedures in trying to land three times in thick fog, but added that alternative airports had been made available for a diversion. "It is sadly not unusual in terms of bad weather for aircraft to take three approaches ... it is the standard," he said.
The service was operated by Flightline BCN, a company based in Barcelona. Hayes added: "I am very confident of the standards and levels in which they operate.
"For us as a business this is the first time we have had an incident like this and it is because of our commitment to passenger safety that this is such a shock that this has happened."
The Manx2 chairman expressed his condolences to those affected by the crash. He also thanked the emergency services at the airport and all who were involved in the operation at the crash site.
Cork airport will remain closed until at least Friday afternoon following the crash. The Manx2 flight from Belfast to Cork overturned and caught fire after landing on its third attempt. There was heavy fog in the area at the time.
The five men and one woman who were injured spent the night at Cork University hospital. The six men who died were passengers Pat Cullinan and Michael Evans from Belfast, Richard Noble from Derbyshire and Brendan McAleese from Ballymena, plus the Spanish pilot, Jordi López, and English co-pilot Andrew Cantle.
Books of condolence will be open at Cork city hall and Cork county hall on Friday to allow members of the public to express their condolence to the families of the victims of the plane crash.
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been located and removed from the scene.
They will be taken to Dublin where specialist equipment will be used to download the material in them. The investigation into the cause of the crash will involve experts from Ireland, Britain, Spain and the US.
The US national transportation safety board has confirmed that it is sending three investigators to assist in the investigation.
Initial indications into what went wrong are likely to emerge in a matter of weeks. However, it is expected that a final report could take more than a year to complete, given the serious legal and financial implications of the accident.