An Alaska Airlines jet was prevented from taking off from Nashville International Airport on Thursday to avoid a possible collision with a Southwest Airlines plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told The Hill that the Boeing 737 Max 9 with an Alaska Airlines crew on board “aborted takeoff after Southwest Airlines Flight 2029 received clearance to pass near the end of the same runway at Nashville Airport. Alaska Airlines reported a tire blowout while braking,” according to the FAA.
The Southwest Airlines flight was a Boeing 737-700.
The incident happened at around 9:15 a.m. local time.
An Alaska Airlines spokesman told The Associated Press that the pilots realized “there was a potential traffic accident on the runway” and “immediately applied the brakes to prevent the situation from escalating.” No one was injured.
Alaska Airlines told The Associated Press that there were 176 passengers and six crew members on board. A spokesman said the plane was being inspected while another plane was taking passengers to Seattle, according to the AP.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the accident, both agencies confirmed.
“Southwest has been in contact with the FAA and NTSB and will participate in their investigation. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,” Southwest said in a statement to The Hill.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said: Senate Subcommittee Hearing Last November, it said that while aviation accidents were “extremely rare”, the aviation system was “showing clear signs of strain which cannot be ignored”.
Homendy said the NTSB opened investigations into seven intrusion cases in 2023.
“In more than half the cases, the aircraft came within a few hundred feet of each other,” she said at the hearing.
The Hill has reached out to Alaska Airlines for further comment.
