“Orlando Airport Prevents Southwest Airlines Plane from Taking Off on Taxiway Instead of Runway”

A Southwest Airlines flight was canceled in Florida after the aircraft tried to take off from a taxiway instead of a runway at Orlando International Airport, officials said. 

The Federal Aviation Administration is now investigating the incident involving Southwest Airlines Flight 3278, which was scheduled to depart Orlando for Albany, N.Y., on Thursday morning. 

“An air traffic controller at Orlando International Airport canceled the takeoff clearance for Southwest Airlines Flight 3278 around 9:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, March 20, after the aircraft began its takeoff roll on a taxiway. The taxiway runs parallel to the runway,” the FAA told Fox News Digital in a statement. “No other aircraft were involved.” 

Southwest Airlines said in a statement Thursday that the plane “stopped safely on a taxiway at Orlando International Airport this morning after the Crew mistook the surface for the nearby runway.”  

A Southwest Airlines plane prepares to depart from a gate at Orlando International Airport in September 2023. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“The airline accommodated Customers on another aircraft to their intended destination of Albany,” it added. 

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees,” the company also said. 

The aborted takeoff in Orlando happened after another Southwest flight crew performed a go-around maneuver to avoid a possible incident with a private jet that crossed its path on the runway at Chicago Midway International Airport in late February. (StreamTime Live)

The incident happened days after the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report suggesting that sunglare may have been a contributing factor in the recent near miss involving a Southwest Airlines jet at Chicago Midway International Airport.