A Lufthansa Boeing 747 was about to depart when a South African Airways A320 crossed the runway at Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport, South Africa.
On Friday 23 February 2024, Lufthansa flight LH573 to Frankfurt was departing from Johannesburg or Tambo International Airport when the incident occurred.
Boeing 747-8 (registration) D-ABYJ) departed from Runway 03L at 20:16 local time (18:16 UTC). The 10-year-old plane was accelerating when another plane crossed the runway.
South African Airways flight SA422 landed on runway 03R from Port Elizabeth a few minutes ago.
Lufthansa Flight 747 nearly collided with a South African Airways A320 on the runway at Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa. pic.twitter.com/TaPcVaq8Wz
— Aviation News & Video Breaking (@aviationbrk) February 24, 2024
The Airbus A320 (registration ZS-SZE) crossed runway 03L right in front of the Lufthansa aircraft.
according to flight radar 24 According to the data, the Boeing 747-8 was refused takeoff by 29 knots and departed at 20:42, making a 9 hour 50 minute flight to Frankfurt.
It is unclear whether the Lufthansa crew had permission to take off or whether South African Airways was allowed to cross the runway.
Update #1
The controller on duty explains that Lufthansa flights are allowing taxis to clear the runway and keep them out of the storm. He added that the information displayed by FR24 he is not 100% accurate. He confirmed that there was no runway intrusion.
