On September 15, an Air Corsica aircraft was forced to circle near Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport (AJA) for about 20 minutes after the air traffic controller (ATC) fell asleep in the tower. The controller eventually woke up after repeated calls from the crew and intervention of the fire department, and the flight landed safely.
The pilots operating the flight said that they remained calm throughout the unusual situation. While there were no further incidents reported, the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) launched an investigation.
Attempting To Land In Ajaccio
The incident involved Air Corsica Flight XK777, operating a flight from Paris Orly Airport (ORY) to Ajaccio. According to Flightradar24, the flight departed Paris at 22:46, about an hour later than the scheduled departure time, and was scheduled to arrive at 23:25 local time. The flight was operated by a six-year-old Airbus A320neo, with registration F-HXKJ.
The plane climbed through 37,000 ft and flew towards Ajaccio, a trip that usually takes 70–80 minutes. The aircraft began descending about one hour into the flight as the crew prepared to land. However, as the plane descended through 15,000 ft, the crew noticed that the runway lights had not come on and the controller was not responding to radio calls.
The pilots then entered a holding pattern as they were trying to figure out what was going on. “In my decades of experience, I’ve never had to deal with a situation like this,” said the captain. Corse-Matin reported that passengers took the situation with humor, while some flight attendants confirmed it.
Receiving A Wake-Up Call
After failing to get a response from the controller, the pilots contacted the airport fire department. They were dispatched to the scene, but could not get a response from the controller, so they contacted the police. Security protocols initially slowed access to the control room, but the team eventually got there to find the controller asleep at their post. The controller was woken up, after which radio communication was restored and the runway lights came on.
The flight landed safely at 00:35 after a 110-minute flight. The Airbus A320 remained on the ground overnight and departed the airport nearly on schedule at 07:07 for a flight to Marseille (MRS). A representative of the DGAC said that the ATC official tested negative for any drugs or alcohol. However, the authority launched an investigation and is considering a potential sanction.
The situation does not call into question the safety of the airport or control tower, but highlights some of the situations controllers may face when sitting alone on duty, especially at an airport with low activity like Ajaccio. The last flight before XK777 landed at 22:16. On the other hand, there have been situations where airline crews have been caught falling asleep mid-flight, including an Ethiopian Airlines crew in 2022 and Batik Air pilots in 2024.
Not A very Busy Airport
Napoleon Bonaparte Airport is the main airport serving Ajaccio, the capital and largest city of the French island of Corsica. Located in the Mediterranean Sea, Corsica is one of the administrative regions of France. Ajaccio Airport serves as a base for Air Corsica, the flag carrier of the island. The airline typically operates flights to continental France and a few other European destinations.
According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Ajaccio Airport has about 144 weekly departures. As one would expect, Air Corsica is the largest carrier out of Ajaccio with about 82 scheduled weekly departures. Volotea is the second largest with 36 flights. Other carriers serving the airport include Air France, easyJet Switzerland and Europe, Luxair, and Transavia France.
The busiest route from Ajaccio is to Paris Orly with up to 35 weekly flights each way, followed by Marseille with 21, and Nice with 18. There are also several flights to Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, Toulouse, and various other French cities. Apart from destinations in mainland France, the airport also offers flights to Brussels (CRL), Geneva (GVA), Rome (FCO), and Luxembourg (LUX).