Aerowanderer

Air France flight postponed after gunshot. The aircraft was shot at and is left with bullet holes at Congo. The incident took place in Pointe Noire, the country’s second largest city. The aircraft was an A330 which had arrived from Paris as a repatriation flight to bring french citizens back to France.

Air France flight shot at

Air France flight has been postponed after being shot at. On April 11th, an Air France A330-200 was fired at twice while at Pointe Noire Airport. The bullet had pierced the sheet of metal and according to reports the shooter had used a PMAK rifle which is used by the Congolese Armed Forced and has been arrested.

The aircraft A330-200 is registered as F-GZCK arrived from Paris on the flight AF373V at 17:05 on April 11th 2020. The incident took place on ground and no one has been injured. The video shows the extent of damage.

The aircraft was scheduled to operate as AF4145 from Pointe Noire carrying around 100 to Paris with a stop at Bangui for the repatriation of around 120 French citizens due to the coronavirus pandemic and was to fly to Europe with a total of 220 passengers.

Replacement flight

The return flight was set to depart at 10:00am local time on the 12th April 2020 which has been postponed. A replacement aircraft has been sent to operate the return leg of the flight

“The flight scheduled for 10:00 am was postponed for 24 hours in order to allow a replacement aircraft and a crew to be transported from Paris CDG. Customers have been warned and taken care of by our local teams.”

Air France has said in a statement

The aircraft arriving as the replacement is a B777-200ER registered as F-GSPC to carry on with the return leg.

Conclusion

Air France is unfortunate for an incident like this to happen. It has been operating several repatriation flights as well as cargo flights. At the moment we do not know when the A330 will be back in operation but we know the stranded passengers who were suppose to be on the flight are being arranged to be put on the next flight.

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