The incident occurred on an Air France flight to Barcelona, this Friday evening, January 3, 2025. The plane, an Airbus A318, had to turn around shortly after taking off from Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle. The company cites a pressurization problem.
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It was a not very reassuring scene experienced by passengers on an Air France flight on the evening of Friday January 3, 2025. A video of a few seconds, posted the day after the incident, shows the oxygen mask hatches open. Wires dangle between passengers. Some put the mask on their face. Others don't. “I was on that plane“, writes Andrea. “The worst moment of my life“, adds Joan in comments. The Airbus A318 which was to take them from Paris to Barcelona had to turn around, seventeen minutes after takeoff.
On tracking sites such as Flightradar24, flight AF1448 displays a large loop before returning to its starting point. The plane, an Airbus A318-111 operated by the company Air France, took off at 9:28 p.m. from Paris Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport, Friday evening, January 3, 2025, bound for Barcelona in Spain.
After takeoff, it heads south. But arriving above Châtillon-sur-Loire, north of Bourges, the plane began a U-turn after triggering the code 7700, synonymous with distress, or at least an emergency situation. “Air France confirms that the crew of flight AF1448 on January 3, connecting Paris CDG to Barcelona BCN and operated by Airbus 318, decided to return to base after 17 minutes of flight due to a cabin pressurization malfunction“, the airline said on social media.
But what is the purpose of aircraft cabin pressurization? During a flight at high altitude, this helps avoid the physiological risks linked to the drop in atmospheric pressure and the reduction in oxygen levels.
“Air France crews are regularly trained to handle this type of situation in accordance with the manufacturer's procedures.“, specifies the company in its press release. And the dropping of oxygen masks in the cabin is part of the emergency descent procedure. “The crew activated this drop because the automatic mask release altitude had not yet been reached.“, specifies Air France.
At 10:12 p.m., the plane was again placed on the tarmac at Paris Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle in order to carry out technical checks concerning this cabin pressurization anomaly. No injuries were reported and there was no panic on board. The flight was canceled and the passengers were scheduled to take a plane back to Barcelona this Saturday, January 4, 2025 afternoon.
