An Air Corsica A320neo arriving from Paris–Orly was forced into a holding pattern near Ajaccio after the airport's air traffic controller reportedly stopped responding and was later found asleep, leaving the flight circling for between 30 minutes and nearly an hour and prompting safety questions and an inquiry.
Discovered |
Briefing
The event created an immediate safety and contingency issue: the aircraft circled for between 30 minutes and nearly an hour after ground ATC stopped responding, testing in‑flight diversion and emergency protocols.
It highlights systemic pressure on French ATC capacity and staffing — France accounted for 41% of Eurocontrol’s reported flight delays during a recent peak week (see the Eurocontrol analysis: https://hype.aero/?story=a03145ab-a9aa-4354-ba50-dc4e577fc144).
The incident follows recent French controller strike actions and separate ATC outages that disrupted operations, reinforcing concerns about resilience and redundancy in controllers and systems (see recent coverage of controller strikes: https://hype.aero/?story=09b9c96d-6c58-4e85-9cb2-123623c1e18f and the Johannesburg ATC system failure: https://hype.aero/?story=5697d103-093a-467f-9024-d7241a975688).
Reported By
Hype groups these reports into one evolving story so you can compare coverage without losing the thread.
Airliner Circled Nearly an Hour After Air Traffic Controller Fell Asleep • yourmileagemayvary.com
Paris–Ajaccio Air Corsica flight forced to hold after air traffic controller reportedly fell asleep • aerospaceglobalnews.com
Flight Held in Holding Pattern After Air Traffic Controller Fell Asleep • The Independent
Air Traffic Controller Falls Asleep, Leaving Air Corsica Plane Circling • One Mile at a Time
