An All Nippon Airways plane arriving in Osaka's Itami airport from Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, on Oct. 5 landed on a runway that was not the one directed by an air traffic controller, officials said.

Immediately before the landing, a Japan Airlines Corp McDonnell Douglas MD-87 was about to enter the same runway for departure, but its pilot halted the plane after noticing the approaching ANA Flight 448, they said. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it will interview the air traffic controller and the pilot of the ANA plane to investigate the details.

The ministry said the ANA plane, carrying 165 passengers and crew, was scheduled to land on the 1,800-meter A runway from the south side but the air traffic controller misheard the ANA pilot, believing that he requested to land on the 3,000-meter B runway, giving him permission to land on the B runway. The ANA pilot repeated his plans to land on the A runway, but the controller did not catch his words because the pilot was ambiguous, the ministry said.

Around the same time, JAL Flight 2441 carrying 147 passengers and crew was about to depart from the A runway but its pilot reported the incoming ANA plane to the air traffic controller. This made him realize that the plane was heading to the wrong runway, they said.

The JAL plane was set to depart shortly, but the controller allowed the ANA plane to land on the unauthorized runway after judging there was enough space between the two planes, they said.