Two passenger planes of China Eastern Airlines have been involved in a "near miss" at at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on Tuesday noon, prompting an investigation by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

In a statement, the regulator said that an Airbus A320 was given clearance to take off from Hongqiao International Airport when the crew noticed an A330 crossing the runway appeared in front of them.

The A320 aircraft, Registration B-2337, performing flight MU5643 to Tianjin, was was accelerating for takeoff from Hongqiao's runway 36L when at about 110 KIAS the crew spotted the A330-300 performing flight MU5106 that was coming in from Beijing.

The quick-thinking captain of the A320 jet assessed that it was safer to continue and managed to climb the A320 over the A330, to avert a possible catastrophe.

The A320 rotated and lifted off to overclimb the A330 by an unknown distance. Flight MU5643 continued its flight to Tianjin without further incident while MU5106 crossed runway 36L, reaching its parking stand without complications.

China Eastern said its flight crews detected a "flight conflict" at 12:03 p.m. local time and quickly maneuvered the aircraft.

The aviation watchdog has launched an investigation into the "serious incident" at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.