M'sia Airlines plane entered Changi Airport runway without clearance in 2025

A Malaysia Airlines flight taxied towards the runway despite a runway controller cancelling its earlier clearance to line up on the runway for takeoff.

The Boeing 737-800 jet's runway incursion occurred on May 19, 2025.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines a runway incursion as the “incorrect presence” of an aircraft, vehicle or person on a runway designated for landing and take-off.

On Apr. 1, 2026, Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) published its investigation report on the incident to aid in the prevention of future incidents.

No one was injured in the incident.

Runway controller initially gave clearance

The plane was scheduled to depart from Singapore Changi Airport for Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 4:35pm.

At about 4:49pm, the aircraft was cleared to taxi to the runway holding point.

At around 4:52pm, the runway controller asked the flight crew if they were ready for departure, and the second officer said they were ready.

The runway controller cleared the jet to line up for the runway.

However, shortly after, the flight crew realised that the cabin crew had yet to report that the cabin was ready for departure, so they informed the controller that they needed two more minutes.

Right after relaying that information, both the pilot-in-command and second officer heard a chime indicating that the cabin was ready for take-off.

Line-up clearance cancelled

Upon hearing that the flight needed two more minutes, the runway controller issued an instruction, "line-up clearance cancelled and report when ready".

But the pilot-in-command read back the wrong instructions and said, "cleared line-up and wait," and continued to taxi toward the runway.

The runway controller realised that the readback was incorrect and asked the crew to stop, but her instructions were cut short, and only words relating to the holding point were transmitted to the flight crew.

Hence, the pilot-in-command read back the wrong instruction and continued moving towards the runway, leading to a runway incursion.

The report stated that this was likely a result of multiple simultaneous transmissions on the same frequency.

Investigations

The runway controller was alerted to the incursion and considered instructing the aircraft to stop.

On second thought, the runway controller felt there was no need to ask the aircraft to do so, as it had already passed the holding point and having it hold the current position would not remedy the situation.

She also planned to have the aircraft lineup on the runway anyway after the flight crew informed her that the cabin was ready for departure.

Investigations by the TSIB said the risk of an unauthorised take-off would have been avoided if the runway controller had immediately corrected the crew's misinterpretation and told them to stop.

The pilot-in-command also noted that he was more accustomed to instructions in a direct imperative sentence structure.

An ICAO example listed in the report would be "cancel take-off clearance”.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) published a handbook containing recommended standard phrases in July 2025, about two months after the incident.

According to the Ministry of Transport's website, at least 12 reports of runway incursions have been published from 2010 to 2025.

Safety lessons

CAAS director of air navigation services safety Victor Tan told The Straits Times (ST) that all air traffic controllers were briefed on safety lessons from the investigation.

This includes clear and concise phrasing and prioritising tasks such as ensuring aircraft separation over other tasks.

Tan told ST that the July 2025 handbook was aligned with ICAO standards and that the CAAS reviews the handbook yearly to ensure it remains up to date with ICAO guidelines.

He added that the authority would assess if an interim update would be needed following TSIB's report.

Mothership has reached out to Malaysian Airlines.

Top photo from Fasyah Halim/Unsplash