Toronto-New York flight nearly collides with another aircraft on landing

An Air Canada Express flight from Toronto was forced to abort its landing at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday afternoon after coming too close to another aircraft during its approach, according to multiple U.S. aviation officials and flight data. 

The incident occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m., as a jet operated by Republic Airways for American Airlines was arriving at the airport from Indianapolis. During its approach, the aircraft strayed from its assigned path toward Runway 31L. 

At the same time, a passenger flight operated by Jazz Aviation for Air Canada Express was approaching a parallel runway after departing from Toronto Pearson Airport and had been cleared to land. 

As the two planes drew closer than expected, air traffic controllers issued urgent instructions to both crews. The Air Canada Express flight was told to climb to 3,000 feet, while the Republic Airways-operated aircraft was directed to correct its course. 

Both plans reportedly received onboard collision-avoidance alerts, prompting their pilots to carry out go-arounds, which, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, is a standard safety procedure in which an aircraft discontinues its landing and returns to a higher altitude before attempting another approach. 

Preliminary flight tracking data indicated that the aircraft came within roughly 350 feet vertically and less than one kilometre apart horizontally before safely separating. 

Recordings of air traffic control communications captured the moment controllers instructed the Air Canada crew to climb, which the pilots acknowledged while reporting a traffic alert. 

"JAZZ 554, climb and maintain 3,000," a controller said. After acknowledging the instructions, the pilot was heard saying "TCAS RA," which refers to the onboard collision avoidance alert. 

Both planes later repositioned and landed safely at JFK airport. Data from FlightAware shows the Air Canada Express flight touched down at approximately 2:49 p.m., followed by the Republic Airways flight a few minutes later. 

The Federal Aviation Administration says it is investigating why the Republic Airways flight deviated from its assigned course. 

"On approach into New York (JFK), Flight 8554 en route from Toronto (YYZ), the flight crew received a traffic warning notification and resolution as well as direction from ATC - and the crew took immediate action," Jazz Aviation told blogTO in a statement. 

"Safety is our top priority and our crews are well-trained to deal with many operational situations such as this. The flight landed safely at JFK." 

This latest incident comes approximately one month after the collision between an airport firefighting vehicle and an Air Canada Express plane that resulted in the deaths of two pilots at LaGuardia airport.