Southwest Airlines, JetBlue planes nearly collide at D.C.’s Reagan Airport

Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways jets nearly collided at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday morning.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, an air traffic controller instructed Southwest flight 2937 to cross Reagan Airport’s runway 4 while JetBlue flight 1554 was starting its takeoff roll on the same runway around 7:41 a.m. local time on Thursday.

Southwest officials said in an emailed statement that the airline is “aware of the incident” and is working with the FAA to understand the circumstances. The Southwest plane was heading to Orlando.

JetBlue officials said in an email the aircraft was traveling from Washington D.C. to Boston, but aborted its takeoff due to the other aircraft attempting to cross the runway. No injuries were reported and the plane was inspected before taking off again.

“Safety is JetBlue’s first priority, and we will work closely with federal officials as this event is fully investigated,” the emailed statement read.

The FAA is investigating the incident.

Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating a Southwest flight that had a close call with an air traffic control tower while attempting to land at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

At Dallas Love Field, the North Texas airport right next to the airline’s headquarters, the FAA just announced it would put in new airfield surveillance systems to reduce the risk of runway incursions. At Love Field, six runway incursions were reported to the FAA in 2023. DFW Airport had 22 runway incursions reported in 2023.