What happened
On the evening of 29 December 2006, a serious air proximity incident occurred at Geneva Airport involving two commercial aircraft. An Easyjet Boeing 737, registration G-EZJL, was cleared for an immediate take-off on runway 23. Simultaneously, a KLM Cityhopper Fokker 100, registration PH-OFF, was on short final approach to the same runway.
The situation was complicated by a third aircraft, a Hawker 800XP (HB-VOB), which had recently landed and was still in the process of vacating the runway via taxiway ZULU. Due to the presence of this aircraft on the runway, the aerodrome controller issued an urgent instruction to the G-EZJL crew to depart immediately. However, as the B737 accelerated, the controller realized the runway was not yet clear and issued an emergency order to cancel the take-off and a simultaneous go-around instruction to the approaching PH-OFF.
The G-EZJL crew, having already exceeded the speed at which a safe rejection was possible, continued the take-off and became airborne. The PH-OFF crew performed the go-around and was instructed to turn left to avoid the departing traffic. The aircraft eventually achieved separation, with a minimum lateral distance of 1 NM and a vertical difference of 300 ft.
The investigation
Investigators examined the sequence of communications between the aerodrome controller and the flight crews. They noted that while the primary instructions to the two main aircraft were in English, communications with the vacating Hawker 800XP were conducted in French. This language barrier prevented the KLM crew from fully grasping the movement of the aircraft on the ground.
Technical analysis of the radar plots and flight data confirmed that the B737 was traveling at approximately 74 kt when the abort command was issued, but the pilot determined that the aircraft was too fast to safely stop before reaching the threshold. The investigation also reviewed the controller's management of the runway occupancy and the timing of the take-off clearance.