Air Canada Jazz flight halted as Southwest jet lands

An Air Canada Jazz flight was ordered to stop on the runway at St. Louis Lambert International Airport on Tuesday, seconds before a Southwest Airlines jet landed on the same runway, according to air traffic control audio reported by KMOV’s First Alert 4. No one was hurt.

The incident happened just after 9 a.m. on Oct. 20 on Runway 12R, the airport’s longest at 11,020 feet. Jazz Flight 886, bound for Toronto, was cleared for takeoff moments after controllers had cleared Southwest Flight 3082 to land on the same runway, the audio shows.

Controllers then told the Jazz crew to stop, repeating the instruction several times. The pilots confirmed they were holding position. The Southwest pilot asked the tower to confirm that the landing clearance was still active, and controllers said it was. The Southwest jet, arriving from Minneapolis, then landed. Controllers afterward told the Jazz crew to line up and wait, noting other traffic on an eight-mile final.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which operates the Lambert tower, told First Alert 4 that the Air Canada flight stopped short of entering the runway and that the required separation between the two aircraft was maintained. First Alert 4 said it was not explicit in identifying Jazz 886 as the Air Canada flight, though the sequence of the audio points to it.

BlogTO also reported on the incident, describing the Toronto-bound flight as having been abruptly ordered to stop during what it called a U.S. runway scare. The audio was widely shared in aviation media this week, and the St. Louis airport’s name was among the trending searches in Canada on Friday.

Neither the FAA nor Air Canada had publicly explained how two conflicting clearances were issued, and the reports reviewed for this story did not say whether an investigation had been opened. Air Canada had not provided a statement in the coverage reviewed.

The incident comes amid heightened attention to runway safety in North America. First Alert 4 noted that earlier this year a landing Air Canada Express jet struck a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport after controllers had cleared the truck to cross the runway. It also recalled the January 2026 midair collision near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., in which 67 people died. Citing the Aviation Safety Reporting System, the station said there have been about six near collisions per month at U.S. airports since that crash.

Jazz Aviation operates regional flights under the Air Canada Express banner. Passengers on the Toronto-bound flight were not reported to have been in danger, according to the FAA’s account that separation was maintained.

Sources: KMOV First Alert 4, BlogTO, FAA statement as reported by First Alert 4.