The demo for the plane was, however, prevented by the Civil Aviation Authority on grounds of technical issues. Fayzullov, who covered for Demidov due to the latter’s departure following the delay, said “the plane was supposed to make demo flights … but wasn’t able to because the pilot fell ill. He was even taken to the hospital for this.”
A businessman in attendance at the press conference disputed this claim; saying that there was actually a fault with the plane due to which the CAA did not allow it to take off.
