A potentially disastrous collision between two planes was narrowly averted Tuesday evening at Israel’s largest international airport, the Israel Airports Authority revealed Wednesday morning.
At approximately 7:00 p.m. Tuesday evening at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, an Airbus A320 passenger plane operated by the ‘easyJet’ company was taxiing out to runway number 26 ahead of takeoff.
The easyJet plane had not received approval from the control tower, however, to enter the runway, authorities said.
Control tower operators quickly warned the easyJet plane that it was approaching runway number 12, which intersects with runway 26, and ordered the easyJet flight crew to halt the plane’s advance and to exit the runway. The control tower operators pointed out that another aircraft was about to land on runway 12.
The easyJet aircraft complied with the control tower’s orders, stopping just before the other aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 350-type business plane, landed. The collision, authorities say, was averted by a matter of seconds.
“The control tower’s order that the [easyJet] plane immediately halt prevented safety incident,” the Israel Airports Authority said in a statement Wednesday.
“The professional behavior and alertness of the flight officials [in the control tower] who spotted what was happening prevented the disaster.”
EasyJet said in response, "“easyJet adheres to strict safety procedures and so its safety team will conduct an investigation in consultation with the relevant authorities to understand if procedures were followed correctly.
“The safety of its passengers and crew is easyJet's highest priority."