Aviation authorities are investigating a near collision at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in which a China Airlines plane carrying 288 passengers managed to jam its brakes during takeoff to avoid hitting a small private jet on the runway Friday.

Judging from the speed of the Hong Kong-bound A330-300, it was seven seconds from hitting the taxiing private plane had it not been able to stop, officials said yesterday.

No injuries were reported in the incident, but the CI919 flight had to be delayed for two hours as engineers checked for possible damage to the aircraft, the officials said.

It is believed that the private jet from Phuket Island, Thailand ignored the control tower's instructions after landing and taxied to the runway where the China Airlines plane was taking off, the officials said.

The A330-300 had accelerated to 250 kph when it received emergency instructions from the control tower demanding it terminate the takeoff, the officials said.

The pilot of the South Africa-registered private plane has entered Taiwan for sightseeing, and is scheduled to leave today, the officials said.