Planes narrowly avoided collision at Melbourne airport after runway shortened, report finds
Two planes almost collide with workers at major airport
- Two passenger planes narrowly avoided colliding with construction workers and vehicles at Melbourne Airport in 2023 due to pilots being unaware of a temporarily shortened runway.
- The incidents involved a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330-300 on 7 September and a Bamboo Airways Boeing 787-9 just 11 days later, both overrunning the runway by metres.
- An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report found that airline dispatchers included the reduced runway length in calculations but failed to highlight it to the flight crews.
- Pilots used reduced-thrust take-offs, mistakenly assuming the full runway was available, which the ATSB described as a 'critical misunderstanding'.
- Following these 'serious incidents', the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has proposed changes requiring air traffic control to more directly confirm pilots' awareness of critical runway conditions.