Brian Flynn, the head of Eurocontrol's Performance, Forecasts and Relations in NMD, told journalists in Brussels on July 18 that his organization had received an invitation to participate in an investigation in the crash of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane in the east of Ukraine.
“We’re ready to set out to Kyiv as early as tomorrow morning,” he said.
He said that this would be expert assistance to the investigation.
“Last night we offered our help to the Ukrainian authorities, and they immediately agreed to our offer,” he said.
The composition of the delegation is yet to be determined, he said.
Talking about the traffic situation, Flynn confirmed that Eurocontrol had temporarily closed corridors at all flight levels over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, which may affect about 350 flights carried by 40 airlines every day. They will be shifted into airspace in Bulgaria, Poland, and Turkey. However, Eurocontrol promises delays in flights will be minimum.
Flynn said he cannot speak about the closing of the entire airspace over Ukraine, as his division is not authorized to draw conclusions about the need to close the airspace for safety reasons. Neither has he respective information about it.
There were no reasons to think that something wrong was going on with the plane and neither were there any faults before it disappeared from radar, he added.
