Lufthansa A320 at Frankfurt on Jan 14th 2026, runway incursion forces rejected takeoff

Last Update: August 26, 2026 / 17:26:01 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Lufthansa D-AIZH, Airbus A320 — Lufthansa D-AIZH, Airbus A320 (Photo credit: ahisgett / Flickr / License: CC by)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 14, 2026

Classification
Incident

Airline
Lufthansa

Flight number
LH-810

Departure
Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Destination
Stockholm, Sweden

Aircraft Registration
D-AIZH

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

A Lufthansa Airbus A320-200, registration D-AIZH performing flight LH-810 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Stockholm (Sweden) with 157 passengers and 6 crew, was taxiing for departure and was cleared to line up runway 25C at L6 behind the departing A320.

A Lufthansa Airbus A320-200N, registration D-AINI performing flight LH-866 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Oslo (Norway) with 123 passengers and 6 crew, had entered the runway at L3, was cleared for takeoff from runway 25C and was accelerating for takeoff when D-AIZH crossed the hold short line prompting a runway incursion alarm at the controller's desk, who immediately instructed LH-810 to hold position and LH-866 to reject takeoff.

LH-866 rejected takeoff and stopped about 155 meters short of LH-810.

On Apr 14th 2026 The Aviation Herald had received this passenger report:

I was a passenger on LH810 on January 14th, flying D-AIZH, and we had entered runway 25C at Frankfurt via taxiway L6 when I saw a plane (I was seated on the left side of the airplane, at a window seat) heading towards us at some speed. We immediately stopped, but with our airplane, D-AIZH, partially occupying the runway (i.e. not just past the threshold, but physically on the runway).

Looking it up later, the other plane was the LH866 flight (aka LH3TX), flying D-AINI, which appears to have started its takeoff roll just prior to 21:47:21 local time, and we crossed the threshold at approximately 21:47:26.

A subsequent inquiry with DFS (German Air Traffic Control) resulted with the reply they had no results.

On Aug 20th 2026 Germany's BFU released a preliminary report stating that the occurrence was rated a serious incident and is being investigated. The preliminary report summarizes the sequence of events (time in local time, UTC+1 hour):

The A320 was scheduled for an IFR flight to Oslo, Norway. Six crew members and 123 passengers were aboard the aircraft. At 21:44:33 hrs, the flight crew received the clearance from the tower controller to taxi onto runways 25C from CAT I taxi-holding position L3.

The A320 was scheduled for an IFR flight to Stockholm, Sweden. Six crew members and 157 passengers were aboard the aircraft. At 21:46:19 hrs, the flight crew reported to the tower controller: „[…] ready, able six“. The crew received the clearance from him: „[…] hallo, taxi to Lima six, after the departing three twenty, line up runway two five center, behind.“ The crew answered: „[…] via lima six, behind departing company, a three twenty, runway two five center, line and wait behind lima six.“

At 21:46:32 hrs, the crew of another aircraft, which stood a CAT I taxi-holding position L1, received the information from the tower controller that the A320 at CAT I taxi-holding position L6 would take-off ahead of them.

At 21:46:57 hrs, the A320neo flight crew received take-off clearance and began at 21:47:20 hrs the take-off run, according to ground radar data. At the time, the A320 taxied from taxiway L towards runway 25C and was about 50 m from the CAT I taxiholding position L6. At 21:47:26 hrs, the A320 passed CAT I taxi-holding position L6.

According to the flight crew, the taxiway edge lights and the taxiway guard lights were switched on. At the taxi-holding position, no stop lights had been activated. The flight crew also stated that they had not noticed the A320neo until it had already begun its take-off run.

At the time, the A320neo was about 550 m away. At 21:47:28 hrs, the A320 triggered an alarm on the Runway Incursion Monitoring (RIM) system of tower control.

At 21:47:30 hrs, the tower controller issued the following instructions: „[Call sign A320] hold position, [call sign A320neo] stop immediately, I say again, stop immediately.“ At the time, the two aircraft were about 470 m apart and the A320neo had reached its maximum speed of 65.8 kt. At 21:47:31 hrs, the A320 was on runway 25C and continued rolling southward until 21:47:35 hrs. At the time, the distance between the two aircraft was about 235 m. At 21:47:49 Hrs, the A320neo had stopped and was about 155 m away from the A320.

The A320 flight crew was instructed to leave the runway straight ahead towards taxiway M. The A320neo left runway 25C via L6.

Later, both airplanes conducted their flights as planned.