Air France is the national airline of France. Credit: AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File
(CNN) --
Two Air France pilots got into an in-flight altercation and exchanged "inappropriate gestures" while in the cockpit of an A320 en route from Geneva to Paris, the company confirmed Monday.
The altercation, which occurred in June 2022, led to the suspension of both pilots, whose names were not released by Air France.
"The incident was quickly resolved without affecting the conduct or safety of the flight, which continued as normal," an airline spokesman said in a statement.
"The pilots involved are currently suspended from flight and are awaiting a decision from management on the outcome/how the incident was handled. Air France reminds that the safety of its customers and crew members is its absolute priority." ".
Although the incident happened two months ago, it became public due to an article published last week in the Francophone newspaper Geneva Tribune, which argues that there are more important structural problems at Air France.
CNN has been unable to confirm any of the additional allegations.
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The Office of Research and Analysis for the Security of Civil Aviation (BEA, for its acronym in French), the French government department that oversees the aviation industry, said it "issued a security recommendation regarding compliance with procedures by part of the operator.
This recommendation is not due to the June cockpit incident.
Rather, the recommendation came after an Air France A330 plane traveling from Brazzaville to Paris began leaking fuel and diverted to land in Chad on December 31, 2021.
The BEA report said the pilots did not follow fuel leak procedures that require the affected engine to be shut down to reduce the risk of fire, resulting in "a substantial reduction in the margin of safety for the flight, the fire was averted." by chance".
This is not an isolated case, the BEA said.
"Through a number of recent investigations," they noted "that the crews in question had not, for various reasons, voluntarily or not, carried out certain compliance procedures," the agency said in the same report.
Earlier this year, in a separate incident, an Air France plane arriving at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport experienced technical problems and "instability of flight controls" during landing.
The Boeing 777 plane, which had left New York, landed successfully and no passengers or crew members were injured.
Air France said its pilots responded appropriately to the situation by
circling and making a second landing attempt.
Air France, founded in 1933, is the country's flag carrier.
-- Renée Bertini contributed reporting from Paris.
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