Updated - Air Malta plane in near miss

Adds reaction by Tonio Borg, who was one of the passengers

An Air Malta plane flying to Malta from Brussels was involved in a near-miss incident last Thursday, Times of Malta has learnt.

The aircraft’s captain was forced to take evasive action after the Airbus’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System was triggered –the last warning before a potential mid-air crash.

Sources said the Air Malta aircraft and an unidentified aircraft were within roughly 500 feet of each other.

KM421 had 157 passengers on board, including EU Commissioner Tonio Borg and EU Affairs Minister Louis Grech.

The Air Malta plane descended to avoid incident after the alarm was triggered off and Swiss air traffic control also alerted the captain about the potential danger.

Sources said it was not yet known whether the case was triggered by a mistake by the other captain or whether an instruction by the Geneva ATC was misunderstood. Investigations were ongoing.

Air Malta confirmed the incident and said a report would be sent to the Geneva authorities. “The captain spoke to the passengers, explained what had happened and the flight continued to Malta without further incident,” an airline spokesman said.

“Air Malta puts safety first and is satisfied that in this particular instance the system and the crew prevented a potentially more dangerous situation developing.”

European Commissioner Tonio Borg, questioned about the case,  played down the incident saying that there was no panic onboard and that passengers were informed that the captain had been given wrong directions. However he said that the plane suddenly tilted to one side as it had to make a quick manoeuvre.

He added that the staff on board treated the incident in a very professional manner.

hgrech@timesofmalta.com

Full story in The Times of Malta.