An Alaska Airlines airplane aborted takeoff on a runway at Tennessee’s Nashville International Airport on Thursday to avoid a potential collision with a Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) jet, the airline and authorities said.
Alaska Airlines 369, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplane with 176 passengers and six crew on board, aborted takeoff around 9:15 a.m. ET (1315 GMT) due to a potential traffic conflict after it had received clearance for takeoff from air traffic control, Alaska said.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters the board was investigating. “We are clearly very concerned about this (incident) and others we are investigating,” Homendy said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was also investigating the incident, where Southwest Airlines Flight 2029 – a Boeing 737-700 – that was scheduled to depart for Jacksonville, Florida, had been cleared to cross the end of the same runway.
The Alaska pilots immediately applied the brakes to prevent the incident from escalating, the carrier added. The plane had been scheduled to fly to Seattle, Washington, and passengers were being moved to a new plane.
The FAA and Alaska said the 737 MAX 9’s tires were blown during braking. Tracking website Flightradar24 said the Alaska plane was traveling at 104 knots (120 mph, 193 km per hour) on the runway before slowing.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) said it was in contact with the NTSB and FAA and would participate in the investigation. Alaska said maintenance technicians in Nashville were inspecting the aircraft.
In April, the FAA said it would install new surface awareness technology at four airports including Nashville by July.
Homendy said it is unclear if that technology has been installed and if it is currently operating. “Was it online on that runway,” Homendy said. “Did warnings go off?”
The FAA declined to comment on whether the technology was operating.
Alaska confirmed it was refunding passengers their airfare and giving them $1,000 to assist with the inconvenience of the flight.
“We recognize how distressing this incident must have been and we are grateful to you and our crew for everyone’s calm and patience throughout this experience,” Alaska told passengers in an email posted on social media that was confirmed by the carrier.
Last year, a series of near-miss incidents raised concerns about U.S. aviation safety and the strain on understaffed air traffic control operations.
On Wednesday, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told reporters the number of serious runway incursion incidents had fallen by over 50% but “we continue to work the issue by creating more technology for controllers, more technology in the arrival facilities.”
In June, the NTSB found that incorrect assumptions on the part of an air traffic controller led to a February 2023 near-collision between a FedEx plane and a Southwest aircraft in Austin, Texas.
The two planes came within about 170 feet (52 meters) of each other when the FedEx Boeing 767 was forced to fly over the Southwest 737-700 to avoid a crash in poor visibility.
In June, Homendy said the board wants low-visibility training for controllers and faster deployment of technology at airports and cockpit alerts to prevent future near-collisions.
(Source: Reuters)
Maria Reed is a financial journalist with a passion for covering US equities. She joined the ABBO News team in June 2023. Maria holds an M.S. degree in International Economics and Finance from Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg and is a CFA Level 2 candidate.