"Smoke" grounds Air France plane on Schiphol

The crew of an Airbus 321 of Air France reported smoke fumes, Monday morning, only several minutes before initiating the descent. Schiphol sounded the alarm and deployed full force emergency services as a precaution. The plane, that was en route from Paris to Schiphol, was still over Brussels when the alarm was sounded.

'It only concerned the smell of smoke,' said a spokesperson for Air France. At no point was there any smoke in the cockpit. An inspections by the fire department didn't turn up any fires. The 167 passengers all remained very calm, despite the fuss, and were able to exit the aircraft the usual way, instead of by emergency slides. Nobody was injured. The aircraft did not have to perform an emergency landing, stressed the Air France spokesperson. The source of the burning smell in still unknown. The plane will likely stay on the ground, according to the airline. Technicians will investigate the problem.