A possible collision endangering the lives of 224 passengers on board two aircraft bound for Calcutta and New Delhi was averted at Mumbai airport after pilots aborted take-off from intersecting runways in the morning rush hour.

What witnesses described as a “near collision” occurred around 7.55am on Sunday when the pilot of the Jet Airways Mumbai-Calcutta flight 9W 615 on the secondary runway 14/32 realised that an Air India flight was also taxiing on the main runway 09/27 and slammed the emergency brakes.

Airport sources said the flights could have collided at the intersection of the two runways if the take-off had not been aborted. There were 108 passengers on board Air India, and 116 on board the Jet Airways flight.

This is the second “near collision” after February 9, when a helicopter in President Pratibha Patil’s entourage came dangerously close to an Air India flight during her Mumbai visit.

Contrary to the panic-stricken voices of passengers on board the two aircraft, the airlines’s officials claimed they had not come close to a “near miss”.

A Jet Airways official blamed the close shave on the Air India pilot. “The air traffic control (ATC) had given our flight a clearance for take-off. The Air India pilot mistook the ATC instructions and started his run. ATC officials then shouted repeatedly to the Air India pilot to abort his flight. Our pilot, though not told specifically, applied emergency brakes as a precautionary measure,” Ragini Chopra of Jet Airways said from Delhi.

According to sources, pilots Gilbert Mercer and Vivek Dave, heard the ATC shouting into the voice communicator: “Air India hold position, hold position!”. The Jet aircraft was running at 190kmph but the pilots hit the emergency brakes.

“ATC officials instructed the Air India pilot to abort his take-off five-six times,” said Chopra, adding that the inquiry ordered by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would reveal how the Jet pilots were in the right.

Air India officials blamed the ATC for clearing both flights for take-off at the same time. “The two aircraft were on the diagonal runways. They were given clear instructions to take off by the ATC, and then told to abort,” said an Air India spokesperson.

Both the aircraft then headed back to the parking bay. The Jet Airways passengers boarded another craft and departed after a 90-minute delay. For passengers on board AI 348 bound for Shanghai via New Delhi, the wait stretched to nearly five hours with the flight finally leaving for Delhi at 1.05pm.

With more than 700 arrivals and departures every day, Mumbai airport has two intersecting runways.

Calcutta airport, with around 105 arrivals and departures a day, has none. “Intersecting runways are common and many airports have them because of paucity of space. But in Calcutta we have parallel runways,” said a senior official at Calcutta airport.