FAA Issues Safety Alert After Runway Incidents, Including 2 At Logan

BOSTON, MA — The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday called on the nation’s airport operators, pilots and safety personnel — including those at Logan Airport — to do a better job of keeping passengers safe from near-misses on runways.

The FAA safety alert comes in response to a string of high-profile near misses on runways, including two at Logan recently. The agency said that while its data does “not reflect an increase in incidents and occurrences, the potential severity of these events is concerning.”

Incidents this year at a half dozen airports brought attention to the problem, but what the FAA calls “runway incursions” have become a more common problem, according to the agency. That’s when aircraft, vehicles, people are in takeoff and landing areas, but shouldn’t be.

There were about 1,732 such incidents in 2022, and 699 so far this year, according to the FAA.

“The vast majority of runway incursions are not serious occurrences,” the FAA said in the alert, but reducing them is one of its highest safety priorities that is a “shared responsibility that encompasses pilots, air traffic controllers and airport vehicle drivers.”

On March 6, two United Airlines planes clipped each other's rear horizontal wings near a gate at Logan. The flights were headed to New Jersey and Colorado and were both canceled following the incident.

The National Safety Transportation Board is also investigating a near-miss that happened Feb. 27 at Logan. A Learjet 60 began a takeoff roll as a JetBlue plane was preparing to land on an intersecting runway. No one was injured in that close-call.

Conveying urgency, the FAA called on airline operators and others to immediately assess their safety protocols and make changes.

“Safety management systems, policies and procedures must be able to account for a high rate of change,” according to the alert, which includes a checklist of actions that should be taken to improve airline safety.

Among those the FAA called to action are directors of operations, chief pilots, directors of training, check airmen, directors of safety, program managers, pilots and operators to implement changes.

Last week, the FAA held a safety summit with airlines, airport operators and workers to discuss the tumultuous state of the industry. There are about 45,000 planes in U.S. airspace on any given day.

“I think I speak for all of us, and certainly the traveling public, when I say these events are concerning,” FAA acting administrator Billy Nolen said in opening remarks. “They are not what we have come to expect during a time of unprecedented safety in the U.S. air transportation system.”