Question about Air France 6498.?

Question

while listening to ATC of JFK, i heard that air france flight 6498 is on short final. I was wondering because all the air france flights from Paris to JFK have very different numbers (like AF008, AF006 etc.). So, i looked at the flight plan of air france from paris to JFK, and i read that all air france flights have flight numbers in the single digits.

So, i gave this flight # 6498 in the flight status field of the air france website, and there was written that, indeed, there is a air france flight with this number, departing around 7 pm in paris.

So, how can this be that there is a flight, which cannot be booked on the website (because he is simply not listed), but which actually exists?

Answer 1

It might have been a charter flight.  Charter flights are done when someone needs to haul a couple hundred people somewhere but they don't want to do it often enough to make it a scheduled flight.

Its kind of like hiring a limo for 300 people.  Those flights are governed by a different set of regulations than the regular scheduled flights are.  They are not less safe, just done a little differently because of the type of operation.

Answer 2

I did some more research. You have your "facts" skewed. Air France does not use only single digit flight numbers and the number you reference is one that was involved in a near miss with another aircraft.

Answer 3

Sometimes when you get a flight number that is out of the ordinary it could be for several reasons.

An extra section was added, a charter flight, or it could have to do with the departure being delayed.