Crash sparks compensation debate

Skyguide could huge compensation demands after the air crash Keystone Archive

Monday night's mid-air collision of two jets in Swiss-controlled airspace has led to speculation about possible future claims for compensation.

But Swiss federal authorities insisted on Wednesday that talk of legal proceedings was premature. They said the facts about the collision of a Boeing 757 cargo jet with a Russian passenger aircraft would first have to be made public.

Urs Lauener, an air navigation services expert at the Federal Office for Civil Aviation, said no discussion of legal action could take place until a full investigation into the accident had been completed.

“This is an area which we have to clarify, because until now we have never been faced with a similar situation,” Lauener told swissinfo.

Speculation about legal action

Reacting to speculation that families of Russian victims of the collision could mount legal action against Swiss air traffic control authorities, Lauener admitted that it “could be the case” that claims for compensation might run into billions of Swiss francs.

Seventy-one people – most of them children – were killed when the two planes collided over Lake Constance on the Swiss-German border.

Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic control body, is 99.15 per cent owned by the government, with the remaining shares held by private investors.

The Swiss insurance company, Winterthur, has refused to publish any information about the nature of the insurance policy taken out by Skyguide.

Winterthur heads up 22 direct and four reinsurance companies which collectively form the so-called “Swiss pool” for aviation insurance.

Skyguide has refused to say whether it is insured under the terms of the pool.

Air traffic control procedures

Swiss authorities say it is too early to say whether the accident will lead to a complete overhaul of air traffic control procedures.

“This is very difficult to tell, because we really don’t know all the details and it’s vital to have every single detail available before we can judge on measures to be taken to improve the situation,” Lauener told swissinfo.

“As soon as we know every detail of the accident, we can then decide whether something needs to be done to improve the safety of the system,” he added.

Lauener said that every aviation investigation had the “final goal” to ensure such an accident is not repeated in the future.

“If the investigation shows us that something needs to be done, we will certainly do it,” he said.

Authorities say the initial findings of the investigation are likely to be submitted within the next few weeks, but it could take at least a year before the publication of a final report into the causes of the accident.

Deficient radar?

Details of an official report that stated Skyguide’s radar system fell below European safety standards in several key respects have also emerged. The report from the Swiss Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, completed late last month and published on the Internet last week, was based on three near-misses between 1998 and 2000.

It said big differences between radar readings issued by Geneva and Zurich centres called into question the quality and reliability of the entire system. Skyguide also fell short of demands by the Europe-wide body Eurocontrol that all radar data be stamped with universal time.

This meant that discrepancies of several seconds could appear between Swiss readings and those of neighboring countries. It also meant the location of a plane on the radar screens could be out by up to 500 metres.

The report said there were also deficiencies in the quality of the radar equipment used by Skyguide to trace plane movements. The Investigation Bureau had recommended the radars be changed, a recommendation confirmed on Wednesday by the Bureau’s chief, Jean Overney.

Skyguide is addressing these issues according to spokesman Philipp Seiler and is in the process of introducing changes to conform with the recommendations.

swissinfo with agencies