The Mexican charter company whose 39-year-old plane crashed in Havana killing 110 people had been the subject of serious complaints about its crews' performance over the past decade, authorities say.
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Mexico's government said late on Saturday its National Civil Aviation Authority will carry out an audit of Damojh airlines to see if its "current operating conditions continue meeting regulations" and to help collect information for the investigation into Friday's crash in Cuba.
The Boeing 737 was barred from Guyanese airspace last year after authorities discovered its crew had been allowing dangerous overloading of luggage on flights to Cuba, Guyanese Civil Aviation Director Captain Egbert Field said on Saturday.
The plane and crew were being rented from Mexico City-based Damojh by EasySky, a Honduras-based low-cost airline.
Cuba's national carrier, Cubana de Aviacion, was also renting the plane and crew in a similar arrangement known as a "wet lease" before the aircraft veered on take-off to the eastern Cuban city of Holguin and crashed into a field just after noon on Friday, according to Mexican aviation authorities.
A Damojh employee in Mexico City declined to comment, saying the company would be communicating only through written statements.
Mexican authorities said Damojh had permits needed to lease its aircraft and had passed a November 2017 verification of its maintenance program. They announced a new audit late on Saturday.
Cuban Transportation Minister Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez told reporters on Saturday afternoon Cubana had been renting the plane for less than a month under an arrangement in which the Mexican company was entirely responsible for maintenance.
Armando Daniel Lopez, president of Cuba's Institute of Civil Aviation, said Cuban authorities had not received any complaints about the plane in that month.
Yzquierdo said it was routine for Cuba to rent planes under a variety of arrangements because of what he described as the country's inability to purchase its own aircraft due to the US trade embargo on the island.
Cuba has been able to buy planes produced in other countries including France and Ukraine but has pulled many from service due to maintenance problems and other issues.
Yzquierdo also said the jet's "black box" voice recorder had been recovered and that Cuban officials had granted a US request for investigators from Boeing to travel to the island.
Eyewitness and private salon owner Rocio Martinez said she heard a strange noise and looked up to see the plane with a turbine on fire.
Australian Associated Press
