It happened during a flight between Geneva and Paris in June. The altercation began shortly after takeoff, according to La Tribune newspaper, with one pilot apparently punching the other after grabbing each other’s collars. The cabin crew intervened and one of the attendants spent the rest of the flight in the cockpit, the report added. Air France said the plane landed safely. The pilots are awaiting a decision from management about their “wholly inappropriate behavior,” a spokesman said, according to Bloomberg. News of the incident emerged after the French aviation investigation agency, BEA, issued a report that some Air France pilots lacked rigor in respecting procedures during safety incidents. The report focused on a fuel spill on a flight from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo to Paris in December 2020. The pilots rerouted the plane but did not cut power to the affected engine or land as soon as possible, according to the spill procedure. While the plane landed safely in Chad, the engine could have caught fire, BEA said. It also cited three similar cases between 2017 and 2022. Air France said it was conducting a safety audit and pledged to follow the BEA’s recommendations, which include allowing pilots to review their flights afterwards. The airline stressed that it operates hundreds of flights every day and the report mentions only four such safety incidents. Air France pilot unions have insisted that safety is paramount and have defended the pilots’ actions in emergency situations.
