(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration announced it is launching an investigation into how a commercial airliner rolled ahead of a flight that took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday night.
The crew of a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 aborted its takeoff and eventually stopped within 1,000 feet of the taxiing American Airlines Boeing 777, the FAA said. No one was injured in the incident, which took place around 8:45 p.m. on Friday.
Air traffic controllers “noticed another aircraft crossing the runway in front of the departing jet,” the FAA said in a statement. “According to preliminary analysis, Delta Air Lines Flight 1943 halted its takeoff run approximately 1,000 feet before reaching the point where American Airlines Flight 106, a Boeing 777, had crossed over from an adjacent runway.”
According to Delta, his flight — a 737-900 bound for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic — had 145 customers and six crew members on board.
The flight returned to the gate and then failed to depart due to staffing issues, Delta said. The flight finally left on Saturday morning and Delta said it offered customers a hotel stay.
“The safety of our customers and crew is always Delta’s top priority,” Delta said in a statement to CNN, adding that it will work with the National Transportation Safety Board on any analysis.
“Delta will be working with the NTSB to assist in a full review of Flight 1943 on January 13 for an aborted takeoff at New York-JFK. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and the delay in their travels.”
The NTSB has not yet said it is investigating the incident.
American Airlines did not comment and referred all questions to the FAA. FlightAware data shows that American Airlines Flight 106 was a flight bound for London Heathrow, departing from JFK on time Friday evening and arriving in London on time Saturday morning.