JFK sees near miss of Air Canada, American Airlines planes

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it is investigating a near miss between two planes landing in New York at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The incident happened on Monday afternoon between Air Canada and American Airlines flights. The American Airlines regional jet aborted its landing after it missed its approach path, the FAA said. That caused it to veer too close to an Air Canada regional jet that was already cleared to land on a parallel runway.

Both planes responded to their onboard collision warnings and avoided each other. They then safely repeated their landing attempts.

The Air Canada flight 8554 was operated by Jazz Aviation and originated from Toronto. The American flight 4464 was operated by Republic Airways and began at Indianapolis.

The two jets came within 250 feet from each other vertically, and 3,274 feet horizontally, or two-thirds of a mile, according to Flightradar24 data, reported by the New York Times.

FlightRadar24 showed the Republic plane taking a hard left to avoid the Jazz plane. 

“They complied with the advisory and, consistent with our training and procedures, executed a go-around to land without further incident,” Jazz Aviation said in a statement to The Times.

It’s the second near miss in the United States in a week. On Saturday, two Southwest Airlines jets avoided a crash over Nashville. One was taking off, and another was landing. At Los Angeles International Airport on April 10, a Frontier Airlines plane nearly collided with two trucks on the ground.

Last month, an Air Canada jet, also operated by Jazz, crashed into a fire truck on the runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Both of the pilots were killed.

These close calls are made more common by a nationwide shortage of air-traffic controllers. In 2023, The Times published an investigation that showed airplane near-misses happen several times per week.

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