An investigation opened by Air France after an Air France plane flying from Paris to Dubai flew over Iraqi airspace on October 1, in the midst of Iran’s missile attack on Israel
The airline Air France announced on Wednesday that it had opened a “internal investigation” concerning the flight over Iraqi territory on 1is October of one of its aircraft, the AF662 departing from Paris Charles-de-Gaulle (CDG) and bound for Dubai, at the time when the Iranian missile attack towards Israel began.
« The 1is October, information identified an upcoming attack on Israel by Iran with the sending 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 as of 5 p.m. universal time. [soit 19 heures, heure de Paris] »is written in a press release from the company sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Air France specifies that, on that day, its flight “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 specified.
The press release recalls that Air France aircraft “were already avoiding Israeli, Lebanese and Iranian airspace” and that “overflight of Iraqi airspace was limited to a specific corridor used by all airlines”. A spokesperson for the company told AFP that“an internal investigation[vait] been open about this event ».
Ballistic missiles travel at a higher altitude than airliners fly. But, according to LCI, the pilots of flight AF662 “saw the missiles [du] cockpit »information that Air France did not wish to comment on.
Questioned by LCI, Laurent Veque, 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.
