American Airlines flight aborts takeoff after jet enters Miami runway

American Airlines Flight 308 aborted its takeoff at Miami International Airport on Saturday evening, June 27, after a business jet entered the same runway and forced the crew to brake hard just after clearance was given. The flight was bound for Bermuda, and the aircraft later departed after the delay.

The two jets came within about a third of a mile of each other, a narrow margin on a runway where seconds and spacing determine whether a routine departure stays routine. Around 6 p.m. Eastern time, air traffic control audio captured a tense exchange after the incursion, with a controller telling the business jet pilot, "You just crossed an active runway," and the pilot answering, "You just told me to cross the runway, sir." One account identified the other aircraft as NetJets Flight EJA434, a NetJets Embraer Phenom 300.

The close call showed the system working at the last possible moment, with the American Airlines crew spotting the hazard and stopping the takeoff before the two aircraft met on the pavement. It also showed how quickly a runway mistake can escalate when a runway is shared by multiple aircraft and a single clearance, readback or positioning error is not caught in time. The Federal Aviation Administration defines a runway incursion as the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a runway, and says Category A incursions are the ones in which a collision is narrowly avoided.

The FAA is reviewing the incident, and Miami International Airport has an active runway-incursion mitigation project listed in its capital improvement materials, including work tied to a runway hot spot. That local project sits inside a broader federal push that has intensified since a series of serious close calls at major U.S. airports in early 2023, when runway safety became a top concern for regulators, airlines and air traffic controllers.

A passenger aboard the Bermuda-bound flight thanked the pilot for the quick response, a sentiment that fit the outcome on the runway: no collision, no injuries, and a delayed departure instead of something far worse. But the margin between those two outcomes was thin enough to keep runway incursions at the center of national aviation scrutiny.