An American Airlines Boeing 737-800 NextGeneration (NG) and a Spirit Airlines Airbus A320neo were involved in a near-miss at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS).
The American Airlines Boeing 737-800NG, registered as N946AN, had to abort its take off and return to the gate when a Spirit Airlines Airbus A320neo, registered as N923NK, came too close to the runway while landing at BOS.
The United States (US) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told CBS News that an air traffic controller canceled the Boeing 737NG’s take off clearance just as it was rolling down the runway at the airport.
According to flightradar24.com data, the American Airlines Boeing 737-800NG was about to depart for Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), while the Spirit Airlines A320neo was landing at BOS on a flight from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) at 12:46 pm local time (UTC +4) on August 14, 2023.
Shortly before the incident, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-8, registered as N8760L, departed BOS on flight WN1044 to St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL).
The American Airlines narrow-body aircraft was forced to return to the gate, departing for ORD several hours later. It eventually landed at ORD more than two hours after its scheduled arrival time, at 4:57 pm local time (UTC +5).
A passenger told the Chicago Tribune that “you definitely felt anxiety in the air”, adding that “this is something I hope never to experience again”. The outlet also said the FAA will investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Airlines aircraft completed three more flights on August 14, 2023, including a return flight to ATL.
The FAA’s Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system has not included the incident in its preliminary report information at the time of publication.
On August 3, 2023, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its final report into another near-miss at BOS, when a JetBlue Embraer E190 and a LearJet 60 private almost collided on the runway in February 2023.
At the time, the NTSB concluded that the potential cause of the incident was the Learjet 60 taking off without clearance, resulting in a conflict with the JetBlue E190, which had been cleared to land on an intersecting runway.
