French inspectors had noted numerous faults on the Yemenia jet that crashed today with 153 people on board and the company was being closely monitored by EU authorities, France's transport minister said.
"The A310 in question had been inspected in France in 2007 by the DGAC (French civil aviation authority) and a certain number of faults had been noted," Dominique Bussereau.
"The plane had not since then reappeared in our country," he told i-tele news.
"The company was not on the blacklist (of airlines banned from European airspace) but was being subjected to closer inspection by us and was due to soon be heard by the security committee of the European Union," he said.
The Yemenia flight started in a Paris airport yesterday when an Airbus A330-200 aircraft took off for Marseille and then on to the Yemeni capital Sanaa. There passengers changed to an Airbus A310 and departed for the Comoros via Djibouti.
The twin engine plane crashed early today off the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean.
Airbus said the crashed plane was made in 1990 and had been operated by Yemenia since 1999.
It had accumulated approximately 51,900 flight hours in some 17,300 flights, the France-based planemaker said in a statement which added that the firm was sending a team of experts to help with the crash probe. Airbus said 214 A310s were in service with 41 operators across the globe.
