Plane flies over Iraqi airspace amid Iranian missile attack on Israel, Air France opens investigation

The Air France plane AF662, which connected the 1^uh October Paris Charles-de-Gaulle (CDG) airport and Dubai airport were flying over Iraqi territory as the Iranian missile attack on Israel began. The airline announced on Wednesday October 9 that it had opened a “internal investigation” regarding this device overview.

«The 1^uh In October, reports identified an imminent attack on Israel by Iran with the launch of ballistic missiles. Consequently, and without waiting for instructions from the Iraqi authorities, Air France has decided to suspend flights over the country’s airspace by its planes from 5 p.m. universal time. (i.e. 7 p.m. Paris time) »is written in a company press release sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Air France specifies that, on that day, its flight AF662 “was flying over southern Iraq when the Iranian attack began, around 4:45 p.m. universal time. It left the country’s airspace shortly before 5 p.m. Iraqi airspace was not officially closed by local authorities until 5:56 p.m. universal time.it is clarified.

Flying over authorized but restricted airspace

The press release recalls that Air France planes “were already avoiding Israeli, Lebanese and Iranian airspace” and that “Flight over Iraqi airspace was limited to a specific corridor used by all airlines”. A company spokesperson told AFP that“an internal investigation(will) been open about this event ».

Ballistic missiles travel at a higher altitude than airliners. But, according to LCI, the pilots of flight AF662 “I saw the missiles (of) cockpit »information that Air France did not wish to comment on.

Questioned by LCI, Laurent Véque, member of the office of the National Union of Airline Pilots, declared: “The facts are established and known, the plane found itself in this Iraqi corridor in the middle of the hostilities unleashed by Iran against Israel. » “The light must be shed (…) The health, safety and working conditions commission (CSSCT) will certainly be contacted today, we want to know what happened”he added.

Iran announced that it had launched two hundred missiles against Israel on 1^uh October, after the death, on September 27, of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed by an Israeli missile in the southern suburbs of Beirut, at the same time as an Iranian general. According to Tehran, 90% reached their target, while the Israeli army assured that a large number had been intercepted.