Air France superjumbo grounded again

(AFP PHOTO / AIR FRANCE / CHRISTIAN BRINKMANN)

The sole A380 superjumbo operated by Air France was grounded for the second time in a week on Thursday because of a technical problem, officials said.

The plane, due to fly from Paris to New York's JFK airport, suffered a "small technical incident" that force the airline to cancel the flight and place passengers on another plane, a spokesman for the airline said.

"Technicians are in the process of determining the cause of the fault," he added.

On Monday the same plane was grounded in New York because of a technical glitch.

Air France started flying the giant double-decker jet, the world's largest passenger plane, on November 23.

Another A380, flown by Singapore Airlines, had to return to Paris on Wednesday due to an electrical fault.

jul-laf/sas