An American Airlines flight was forced to abort takeoff after a cargo flight entered the same runway without authorization, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The runway incursion happened at Los Angeles Airport around 10:35 p.m. local time on Sunday when AeroLogic flight 619 was taxiing to its gate and crossed in front of American Airlines flight 2453, which had been cleared for takeoff by an air traffic controller.
The American Airlines jet was going at a speed of around 154 mph and was nearly airborne when the controller immediately instructed the plane to abort takeoff.
The two planes were around 5,200 feet (1 mile) at their closest points, according to the FAA.
“What was fortunate here is that the runway the American jet was taking off on is almost two and a half miles long,” ABC News’ aviation contributor Steve Ganyard said.
“There was plenty of room for the American jet to abort; they only got within about a mile. It’s one of those things that if the runway had been any shorter, [or] it had been a different airport, this could have been a tragedy.”
American Airlines said the Boston-bound flight later departed on another aircraft.
“We thank our crew members for their quick action and our customers for their understanding,” the airline said in a statement.
FAA data shows there have been 101 runway incursions caused by pilot deviations in 2025.
One of the most serious close calls was in March at Chicago’s Midway International Airport, where a Southwest Airlines jet aborted landing and performed a go-around after a business jet entered the runway without authorization.
AeroLogic did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
CNN was first to report the news.
ABC News’ Clara McMichael and Sam Sweeney contributed to the report.