Two aircraft came within metres of colliding on a runway in the south of France during a “serious incident” on Sunday evening.
Nouvelair flight BJ586, inbound from Tunis, met easyJet flight U24706 after mistakenly approaching the wrong runway at Nice Côte d’Azur airport.
The Nouvelair Airbus A320 descended on runway 04R instead of 04L, allegedly due to poor weather conditions, at around 11.30pm.
According to Flightradar24, it passed just 50 feet above the easyJet Airbus A320 before performing a go-around.
The aircraft landed safely on runway 04L about 15 minutes later. The easyJet flight, which was preparing to take off for Nantes, taxied back to the gate and was later cancelled “in line with procedures”.
EasyJet passengers said they heard a “deafening roar” from Nouvelair’s engines during the near-miss incident, reported AVSN.
No injuries were reported from passengers or crew on either aircraft.
Nice Côte d’Azur has two close parallel runways that may have caused one of Europe’s closest near-collision aviation incidents in years.
The French Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses, or Office of Investigation and Analysis, confirmed it has launched an investigation into the “serious incident”.
According to the French aviation authority, a team of four investigators will investigate on site.
The meteorological aerodrome report at Nice showed thunderstorms were active in the area at the time of the incident.
Philippe Tabarot, the French transport minister, said on X (Twitter): “Yesterday, a significant incident occurred at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, where a collision involving two aircraft from the companies Nouvelair and easyJet was narrowly avoided.
“I immediately requested that an investigation be launched by the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis to shed full light on the precise circumstances of this event.”
An easyJet spokesperson told The Independent that the aircraft had been awaiting clearance for take-off from air traffic control when the Nouvelair aircraft approached.
The airline said: “The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority, and in line with procedures, we are fully cooperating with the safety investigation that has been launched in order to understand what happened.”
The Independent has contacted Nouvelair for comment.
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