The lower house (Mazhilis) of the Kazakh parliament voted in plenary session on 18 February to set up a joint commission with the government to find out why state airline Air Kazakhstan has gone into bankruptcy. The website said parliamentarians believe the bankruptcy was deliberately forced. The Transportation and Communications Ministry has asserted that the insolvency is the result of incompetent management. A ministry spokesman told the Mazhilis on 18 February that the airline made what initially appeared to be large profits by reducing expenditures on repairs, with the result that some of its planes are now unfit to fly. Air Kazakhstan has stopped all international flights and closed a number of offices throughout Kazakhstan, and on 3 February its CEO informed the Transport Ministry that the airline was suspending its regular domestic flights. Air Kazakhstan\'s main rival, Air Astana, promptly took over the most profitable routes. (khabar.kz)