An Air France plane bound for Paris had to turn around early Saturday morning, shortly after taking off from Beijing, following a “technical incident”, the airline said, adding that the aircraft was ‘was posed “normally”. The Boeing The crew of flight AF393, on a Boeing-777, “decided to return to Beijing after 14 minutes of flight due to the detection of a technical incident,” the carrier said in a statement. “The aircraft landed normally in Beijing at 4:03 am [heure locale] ”, Ie 20:03 GMT.
According to Beijing Daily, “An explosion was heard behind the cabin and black smoke was released” inside the aircraft. “Fortunately, no one was injured,” writes the local newspaper. Smoke on board was confirmed to AFP by an aviation source in Beijing, but neither Air France nor Chinese airport authorities have commented on the Chinese newspaper’s information.
Another flight during the day for passengers
Contacted by AFP, the French company said the passengers would be transported to Paris during the day aboard another aircraft brought empty from Seoul to Beijing. “The crews are regularly trained in this type of situation” and the incident falls within the “scenarios envisaged”, specified an Air France spokesperson. “Maintenance interventions will be carried out on the affected device before it is put back into service,” added the carrier.
For its part, the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) did not take up the incident, according to a source familiar with the matter.