SAINT-LOUIS, France, Dec 08 2016 – Flights to and from Basel airport were halted for several hours yesterday after a light aircraft reportedly almost crashed into a British Airways’ plane.
One person is believed to have died when the Piper PA-34 aircraft burst into flames after it crashed in heavy fog at Basel airport at 5:41 pm.
Reports said the private plane had aborted an attempted landing on the runway and instead flown around, ‘just clearing’ the cockpit of a Heathrow-bound BA Airbus A320 as it pushed back from the gate, before crashing.
No-one on flight BA749, which was carrying Arsenal fans back from a game in Basel, was injured.
The main runway at Basel airport was closed until shortly after 9pm, causing several flights to be delayed while others were diverted to Zurich.
BA749 was forced to overnight in Switzerland and a return flight from Heathrow was cancelled.
In a statement, BA said: “We are looking after customers and re-booking them on to alternative flights.”
EasyJet also warned passengers of delays to its flight from Basel to Gatwick last night.
