The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that it was investigating a near miss between two passenger jets at Kennedy International Airport.
The close call happened on Monday afternoon, when an American Airlines regional jet missed its intended approach path and aborted its landing, the F.A.A. said.
That sent it dangerously close to an Air Canada regional jet that had been cleared to land on a parallel runway. Both aircraft responded to onboard collision warnings and averted each other, then safely repeated their landing attempts a short time later.
At the time of the near miss, the American Airlines plane was performing a go-around, a standard maneuver in which a plane aborts a landing, repositions and tries again. Information around the incident, the F.A.A. cautioned, was preliminary.
Flights paths published by the tracking service Flightradar 24 said showed the American Airlines regional jet, Republic Airways Flight 4464, taking a hard left after coming close to hitting the Air Canada regional jet, Jazz Aviation Flight 554.
The American Airlines plane had come from Indianapolis, and the Air Canada plane from Toronto.
The jets were around two-thirds of a mile apart horizontally at one point, with a vertical separation of 250 feet, according to Flightradar24 data.
Jazz Aviation said in a statement that its flight crew took immediate action after receiving the onboard warning as well as direction from air traffic controllers. “Safety is our top priority and our crews are well-trained to deal with many operational situations such as this,” the statement said. American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is the second time in recent days that two jets came close to colliding.
The F.A.A. is also investigating a close call between two Southwest Airlines jets at Nashville International Airport on Saturday evening, in which an air traffic controller mistakenly directed an incoming plane into the path of a departing aircraft. The planes came within about 500 feet of each other as pilots responded to onboard collision alerts, Flightradar24 said. One flight aborted its initial landing attempt and landed safely on another pass, while the departing plane continued safely to its destination.
Air travel in the U.S. has come under pressure as staff shortages, soaring prices and government shutdowns have put its infrastructure under extreme strain. Last month, an Air Canada jet, also operated by Jazz, collided with a fire truck on the runway at LaGuardia Airport. Both of the plane’s pilots were killed.
So-called “close calls” between airplanes have become more common, a high-stakes problem underscored by a nationwide shortage of air traffic control operators. A 2023 New York Times investigation found these sorts of near-misses occur several times a week, far more often than previously known.
Jin Yu Young is a reporter and researcher for The Times, based in Seoul, covering South Korea and international breaking news.
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