Six Russian airlines have grounded their Tupolev Tu-154B planes after a jet fire and explosion in Siberia which killed three people, the country's transport safety regulator said on Thursday, RIA Novosti reported.
At least 43 were injured when the Kogalymavia plane, carrying 124 people, burst into flames while taxiing for take-off from Surgut on January 1. The plane then exploded in a fireball, causing flames across an area of 100 sq m.
The Rostransnadzor agency said 14 Tu-154Bs which are still in service in Russia will remain grounded until the cause of the incident has been determined.
Russia's leading airline Aeroflot took all of its remaining 23 Tu-154 planes out of service last year.
Then Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed last April when a Polish Air Force Tu-154 came down in poor weather near the western Russian city of Smolensk. Russia has blamed the crash on pilot error.