The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) indicated that they would investigate a recent near-miss between a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900 and an American Airlines Boeing 777-200.
The incident occurred at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York on January 13, 2022, when the two aircraft were at different points of their departure procedures. While the Delta Air Lines Boeing 737, registered as N914DU, which was departing towards Santo Domingo Las Americas International Airport (SDQ) on Flight DL1943, already received clearance from Air Traffic Control (ATC) to take off, the American Airlines Boeing 777 was still taxiing towards the runway. The wide-body jet, registered as N754AN on Flight AA106, was scheduled to depart for London Heathrow Airport (LHR).
The flight crew of the Triple Seven crossed runway 4L without ATC clearance, where the Delta Air Lines aircraft had already begun its take-off roll. As a result, the Boeing 737 was forced to abort the roll and the two aircraft were separated by about 1,000 feet (304.8 meters). The American Airlines Boeing 777 had already crossed runway 4L and was on taxiway J.
ATC had to cancel Delta’s take-off clearance, to which the pilots of the narrow-body aircraft responded with “rejecting”. The American Airlines aircraft was supposed to cross runway 31L on taxiway K and not taxiway J. Following the rejected take-off roll from the 737, controllers at JFK told the AA crew that there was “possible pilot deviation, I have a number for you”.
Subsequently, the Boeing 737 returned to the gate and, due to crew scheduling limitations, the flight was delayed overnight, according to Delta’s statement to FlightGlobal. The aircraft departed towards SDQ the next morning, while the American Airlines Boeing 777 left JFK 30 minutes after the incident, according to flightradar24.com data.