Santo Domingo - An Air France plane from the Dominican Republic to Paris had to turn back shortly after takeoff due to a problem with the air conditioning, the company said Friday.

"A problem was detected in the air conditioning and we decided it was better to turn back to carry out some checks," said Air France spokeswoman Maria de Velasquez.

Flight AF493, which took off at 21:20 pm Thursday (0120 GMT Friday) from the airport in Santo Domingo, turned back some 20 minutes later.

"It was far from being a problem with the engine. It was a new plane," added de Velasquez, adding the aircraft would be ready to leave on Friday.

France has been left reeling by two air tragedies in recent weeks.

An Air France Airbus jetliner crashed in the Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa with 228 people on board during a storm on June 1. There were no survivors.

And on Tuesday a Yemenia Air flight, which originated in France, crashed at the Comoros killing 152 people, many of them French nationals.

The Yemenia flight left Paris on Monday for Sanaa via Marseille with a modern Airbus A330 but passengers switched to the older A310 jet to continue to Djibouti and Moroni.


AFP / Expatica