Royal Air Maroc Boeing 737-800 Runway Incursion Forces Ryanair 737 To Climb Over In Marrakesh

A runway incursion at Marrakesh Menara Airport (RAK) earlier this week caused a Ryanair flight to climb over another flight awaiting departure, The Aviation Herald reports.

Incident details

An outbound Ryanair service to Nîmes Airport (FNI) in France climbed over a Royal Air Maroc Boeing 737-800 on October 5 after the jet passed the hold short line on the taxiway.

The Royal Air Maroc aircraft, registered CN-RGH, en route to Paris Orly Airport (ORY), exceeded the point on taxiway C1, edging slightly over onto the main runway as the Ryanair service began its rotation. According to the report, the Royal Air Maroc crew could be heard screaming on the frequency while Marrakesh’s air traffic control (ATC) crew attempted to calm them.

Photo: kamilpetran/Shutterstock

Ryanair’s EI-EVA is recorded as rotating around 650 meters from the taxiway at 16:36 WEST, clearing the Royal Air Maroc flight by 170 feet.

CN-RGH departed from Marrakech runway 28 five minutes later without further incident. Royal Air Maroc has not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

The Moroccan flag carrier was previously involved in a similar runway incursion back in 2014, with one of its since retired Boeing 767-300ERs (CN-RNT) having slightly passed the hold short line at Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL) as a de Havilland Dash 8-300 (C-FJVV) operated by Canadian regional carrier Jazz was taking off. Both aircraft missed each other at taxiway B2, off runway 28, with the Jazz flight continuing onto Ottawa’s Macdonald–Cartier International Airport (YOW) safely.

Heightened safety

Through 2023, coverage of several high-profile “close calls” in the United States has heightened public awareness of airport and airline safety measures upon arrival and departure. According to The New York Times analysis, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records saw near misses and runway incursions at airports across North America happening multiple times a week.

Photo: Santi Rodriguez / Shutterstock

While no major US airlines have been involved in fatal crashes since 2009, the lax attitude towards aviation safety at airports has become a hot topic, with officials debating how to resolve the issue.

In a letter sent to NASA in January, an ATC employee summed up the general feeling of pilots, controllers, and aviation officials across the industry,

“Is it going to take people dying for something to move forward?”

While incidents are recorded less frequently across the pond, airports across Europe and North Africa are not alone in close calls. In mid-2020, a United Airlines Boeing 787 arriving from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and an easyJet Airbus A320 were involved in a near miss at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) when a controller confused the runways, leading the 787 to begin landing procedure on runway 09R.

The easyJet crew noticed the potential collision, alerting ATC in time for United Airlines to abort its landing and perform a go-around. According to CNN, the aircraft were separated by just 300 feet.

Did Ryanair handle the incursion well? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Sources: The Aviation Herald (1) (2), The New York Times, CNN