Air traffic control blunder leaves passenger jet unable to land and stranded in mid-air

A passenger jet full of passengers was left circling the airport it was due to land at after an air traffic controller fell asleep. The flight, from Paris to Corsica - an island in the Mediterranean - could not land as the sole air traffic controller in the tower had not illuminated the 2400-metre long runway.

It meant the aircraft - which was an hour late - was forced to circle for almost 20 minutes before the worker woke up. It is understood he was the only person working, and had to be woken up by other workers at the airport.

The Air Corsica pilot circled the airport and reportedly was making plans to divert to an alternative location. The captain told The Times : "In a career of several decades I have never had to handle such a situation. We did a little tour.

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"At no time was there any panic. Everyone stayed calm."

He insisted that the passengers found the incident funny and were not concerned at any point. An investigation has been opened into the 'unusual situation'. The controller has since tested negative for alcohol.

The plane eventually managed to land at the airport at Ajaccio without further incident. Radar tracking of the flight shows it doing three large circles off the coast before eventually coming in to land.