FAA investigates near-collision at Boston Logan between Delta and American flights

A Delta Air Lines jet on final approach to Boston Logan broke off its landing Saturday and climbed away as an American Airlines plane took off from an intersecting runway, a close call that put federal investigators on the case. The FAA said the maneuver was a routine go-around, but the timing at one of the country’s most complex airports raised immediate questions about runway clearance and separation.

Delta Flight 2351, arriving from Dallas, carried 129 passengers and six crew members. The airline said the crew coordinated with air traffic control, executed the go-around safely and landed normally afterward. No injuries were reported. American Airlines and Boston Logan referred questions to the FAA.

Flight-tracking data and local reports placed the incident around 11:30 a.m. local time, with some accounts saying the Delta jet was about 450 feet from touchdown when the crew decided to abort the landing. Local audio reported by outlets suggested American Airlines Flight 3161 had already been cleared for takeoff before the Delta crew initiated the maneuver. That sequence is now central to the FAA inquiry.

Boston Logan’s layout helps explain why the incident drew such scrutiny. The airport has six runways aligned in three directions, including intersecting-runway operations that can force arrivals and departures into tight coordination when traffic is heavy. The FAA and the Massachusetts Port Authority have long treated runway safety at Logan as a major operational issue, and the airport is already in the middle of FAA-required work on Runway 9-27.

Massport has said that work includes two 75-day closures, one that began September 2, 2025, and another scheduled to begin July 1, 2026. The latest close call arrives as federal safety officials face continuing pressure to reduce runway incursions and near-misses at busy airports nationwide.

It also lands after a string of recent aviation safety incidents that have kept low-altitude conflicts in the spotlight, including a July 2025 SkyWest-Delta connection go-around in North Dakota that also involved a near-collision. At Boston Logan, the FAA will now have to determine how the aircraft were cleared onto intersecting runways, whether procedures were followed correctly and how a routine go-around became necessary in the first place.