A passenger aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with a cargo plane operated by FedEx during landing at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday evening.
According to Flightradar 24, the incident took place at approximately 8:17 pm (local time) when the Alaska Airlines flight was instructed to abort its landing.
According to flight tracking data, both aircraft were approaching for landing on intersecting runways when Air Traffic Control directed the Alaska Airlines flight to pull up and not proceed with landing. The instruction was given moments before the aircraft was about to touch down.
At that time, the passenger aircraft was only seconds away from landing, while the FedEx cargo plane was already close to the crossing runway. Visual data from flight tracking platforms showed that the two aircraft were in close proximity during the approach.
A video of the data posted by Flightradar 24 shows the close call.
The NTSB is investigating a “close call” between an Alaska Airlines 737 and FedEx 777 in Newark. The flights were on approach to intersecting runways when ATC instructed Alaska to go around. The 737 climbed, passing over the FedEx aircraft on the runway. https://t.co/HRw07lC1HP pic.twitter.com/QoaBV1TMs8
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 19, 2026
According to the NDTV report, the incident involved Alaska Airlines Flight 294 (a Boeing 737) and FedEx Flight 721 (a Boeing 777F) , and is currently being examined by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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As per the planned sequence, both aircraft were scheduled to land one after the other on intersecting runways.
The FedEx cargo flight, arriving from Memphis, was expected to land first on Runway 29. Following this, the Alaska Airlines passenger flight, arriving from Portland, was scheduled to land on Runway 22L, which intersects with Runway 29.
However, as both aircraft approached the airport, air traffic controllers observed that the Alaska Airlines flight was too close behind the FedEx aircraft and may not have been able to land safely as planned. At that point, the Alaska aircraft was already at an altitude of around 300 feet above the ground, the report added.
The Alaska Airlines plane then aborted its landing and climbed, reaching approximately 325 feet. During this manoeuvre, it passed over the FedEx aircraft, which was positioned near the runway.
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The incident comes about two weeks after another aviation-related event on March 3 involving Singapore Airlines and Spirit Airlines, where a Singapore Airlines aircraft made contact with the tail of a parked Spirit Airlines plane.
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