| Yemenia Airways denies French Air Austral\'s accusation over alleged possible collision: report |
| Date: 2010/9/3 Click: 1829 |
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The Yemenia Airways denied French company Air Austral's accusation over the alleged possible collision between a Boeing of the Air Austral and a Airbus of Yemenia, which was narrowly averted in the skies over Madagascar last week, Yemen's state media reported on Wednesday.
"We and our counterparts in Comoros are investigating the alleged possible collision between the Yemeni and French aircraft in the skies of Madagascar Island on Aug. 24," the official Saba news agency quoted a spokesman of the Yemenia Airways as saying on Wednesday.
The Yemenia spokesman told Saba that the Yemenia Airways had two flights on Aug. 24 and reports of the crews confirmed that there was no any alert warning of a near collision with another airplane during the two flights.
"The recording devices of the two Yemeni aircraft did not show any alert warning of possible collision or flying close to another plane," said the Yemenia spokesman.
Yemenia Airways asked the data of the alleged incident from French company Air Austral for more investigation, the spokesman said, adding that" Yemenia Airways will retain the rights to prosecute the French company Air Austral in case those allegations have been proved null and void."
Last Thursday, French authorities and Air Austral told media that a collision between a Boeing 777 of the French company Air Austral and an Airbus A330s of Yemenia Airways were narrowly averted off Madagascar on Tuesday (Aug. 24).
The aircraft of Air Austral was flying from Paris to Reunion on Tuesday when the alert warning of a possible collision sounded after a Yemenia flight flew closer to it, said Alain Abadie, secretary general of Air Austral.
The Yemenia plane, which was en route from Sanaa to Moroni, Comoros, flew 300 feet higher, and started to land at the airport of Moroni without permission from the port's air traffic control, according to Abadie. |
