FAA allots $100M to curb airport near misses

The Federal Aviation Administration announced that has awarded more than $100 million to a dozen airports to help prevent accidents after a series of near collisions this year. The money is intended to reduce “incursions,” in which planes, vehicles and people mistakenly occupy or obstruct runways.

The money will fund changes that include building new paths, or taxiways, for planes to move around airports and the installation of lights to help better guide pilots.

Tucson International Airport in Arizona will receive the largest award, about $33 million, to build a taxiway and rebuild a runway.

San Diego International Airport will receive $24 million to build a new taxiway.

“Sometimes the best technology is concrete, and that’s why some of what you’re seeing are the construction of these end-around taxiways that mean one less potential conflict point where a plane lines up,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week.

The announcement comes as runway incursions have fallen after a spike at the start of the year. The FAA said the rate of the most concerning kinds of incursions had risen in January to 1 for every 1 million takeoffs and landings, but as of May 23 it had been cut in half.

A series of jarring incursions early in the year received widespread attention.

In one incident at Kennedy International Airport in New York, a plane had to abort taking off because another had crossed dangerously close to it.

In another episode, at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, a pilot had to abort landing because another plane was using the runway to take off.