AVIATION/ AF & EL AL JETS IN NEAR COLLISION

An AIR FRANCE A318 and an EL AL Boeing 777 were involved in a loss of separation incident, on Monday, December 28. AF Flight 2686 was on International Service from Paris, France, to Sofia, Bulgaria, with 70 passengers and crew onboard. The A318 was overhead Serbia and was cleared to descend to 35000 feet. Although the crew correctly read back by the clearance, they descended below 35000 feet. At the same time, El Al Flight 7 was on International Service from Tel Aviv, Israel, to New York JFK with 120 passengers and crew onboard. Flight 7 was also overhead Serbia at 34000 feet on a coverging flight path with the Air France aircraft. According to the Serbian Civil Aviation Authority, ATC staff noted the Air France jet descending below 35000 feet, and halted their descent at 34700 feet. At the time the descent was halted, the 2 aircraft were separated about 700 feet vertically and 3.5 miles laterally. Both were below minima. The CAA has labeled the incident serious and has opened an investigation. In a statement, Air France said that their aircraft did receive a TCAS alert, and all revelant information has been forwarded to the French BEA. An internal investigation has also been launched. In Israel, media report that the aircraft were only 300 meters apart laterally, and only seconds away from colliding. The same reports say that it was the TCAS alerts, which sounded on both aircraft, which prevented a collision.