Aviation is one of the safest forms of transportation in the world, so much so that near misses make headlines even when aircraft are miles from one another. However, yesterday an incident occurred in Mexico City that resulted in an extremely close call between two passenger aircraft.
Two Commercial Aircraft Attempted to Land and Depart from the Same Runway
This incident, which was first reported by The Aviation Herald, occurred yesterday at Mexico City International Airport Benito Juárez (MEX), which is the primary airport serving Mexico’s capital, and involved a Delta Boeing 737 and an Aeromexico regional jet.
The Aeromexico Connect Embraer E190, registration XA-ALP was on final approach into MEX from Aguascalientes (AGU) as Flight AM1631. The Delta aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 with the registration N3766, was preparing to depart Mexico City as Flight DL590 bound for Atlanta (ATL).
Based on air traffic control (ATC) audio from the incident, corroborated by flight tracking sites like FlightRadar24, it appears that the Aeromexico jet was cleared to land on Runway 5R. The Delta jet, preparing to depart for Atlanta, was also cleared to line up on the runway and hold position. Shortly after, the Delta flight was cleared to depart as Aeromexico was on its final approach.
The Aeromexico E190 ended up passing over the top of the Delta aircraft before landing safely on Runway 5R. The Delta jet, seeing this, aborted takeoff and ended up returning to the gate. Flight tracking data showing the incident was published by the FL360aero account on X.
How Did This Happen?
Mexico City International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and operates with a set of parallel runways. The airport sits at an elevation of 7,320 feet, categorizing it as a “hot and high” airport, and both runways are roughly 13,000 feet in length.
With departing aircraft needing more runway length than arriving aircraft, the touchdown threshold for Runway 5R is roughly 1,700 feet past the beginning of the runway. The Delta aircraft entered Runway 5R via Taxiway B, placing it outside of the landing zone. The photo below shows where the Delta aircraft entered the runway in the bottom left and where the Aeromexico plane was able to touch down in the top right, past the white hash marks.
Because of the extended threshold, the Aeromexico jet was still airborne as it passed over the Delta jet as it initiated its takeoff roll. Thankfully, this helped prevent disaster, though the two planes still passed within feet of one another. This incident will no doubt be investigated and additional information will be uncovered over the next few days and weeks.
Summary
Two passenger jets attempted to use the same runway at Mexico City International Airport (MEX) simultaneously, narrowly avoiding one another. An Aeromexico Connect E190 had been cleared to land on Runway 5R at the same time as a Delta Boeing 737-800 was cleared for takeoff. Thankfully this incident only resulted in a near miss and I’m sure there will be additional details as additional information is uncovered.