On September 21, 2025, a Nouvelair Airbus A320 aircraft narrowly avoided major disaster while landing at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport (NCE).

The landing Nouvelair aircraft overflew an EasyJet Airbus A320 lined up on the same runway with less than 20 feet to spare. Initially it was unclear how the two aircraft came into such close proximity, but an initial update from France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) clears up a major part of the story.

For context, the incident involved the following two aircraft.

  • EasyJet Europe Airbus A320-214 (registered OE-IJZ) operating flight U24706 to Nantes (NTE)
  • Tunisia-based Nouvelair A320-214 (registered TS-INP) operating flight BJ586 to Tunis (TUN)

That evening, Nice was using Runway 4L for landings and 4R for departures. The EasyJet aircraft was cleared to taxi and line up on Runway 4R. ADS-B data shows them lining up around 11:31 p.m. local time.

Around the same time, the approaching Nouvelair Airbus A320 received their landing clearance. As initially speculated, the BEA confirmed they were cleared to land on 4L but set up a 4R approach in error.

“The TS-INP crew were cleared to land on runway 04L but aligned with runway 04R which was engaged by OE-IJZ, which was lined up and ready for take-off. They approached runway 04R until they flew over OE-IJZ, then aborted their landing.”

easyjet nouvelair nice incident 2
easyjet nouvelair nice incident 1

This occurrence has been classified as a serious incident, and is still in the investigation stages.

At the time of the incident, there was bad weather, with few clouds at 2,300 feet, cumulonimbus cloud bases at 3,000 feet, reduced visibility, and a thunderstorm with accompanying light rain.

It’s clear the Nouvelair crew screwed up by entering the wrong runway, but in less-than-ideal weather conditions, they may not have realized until the very last minute that something was wrong.

Monitoring deficiency?

Thankfully the pilots of the Nouvelair aircraft were able to spot the EasyJet flight just in time for the go-around, but this latest finding raises further questions. For starters, how did two pilots confuse runway 4L with 4R?

In many circumstances, airports tend to use the outer runway for landings, so maybe the pilot monitoring used muscle memory rather than actually entering what was given to them? Or did they enter the runway information too early based on predictions, forgetting to change it as they got closer? Even then, the pilot flying should have picked up on the error as the selected approach is displayed on the primary flight display.

I’m also curious as to the extent of radar surveillance employed at Nice. Shouldn’t the tower controller have seen the Nouvelair aircraft lined up for the wrong approach? Or are they limited to visually identifying them?

As the case is still being investigated, these are a some of the questions that still need to be answered. However, it does reiterate the importance of pilots properly double checking inputted information.