Overview
- A Pegasus Airlines Airbus A321 moved onto Frankfurt’s Startbahn 18 in the opposite direction of its clearance before a scheduled flight to Istanbul, according to multiple reports.
- Air traffic controllers detected the error and ordered the start aborted at roughly 65 km/h, then guided the aircraft off the runway without an acute danger to other traffic.
- Pegasus acknowledged a pilot error but disputed media claims that there was an attempted takeoff in the wrong direction, and the same aircraft departed for Istanbul about seven minutes later.
- Deutsche Flugsicherung has notified the Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU), which will now decide whether to open a formal investigation into the sequence and causes.
- The incident highlights the safety role of controller oversight at busy hubs and could lead to procedural or training recommendations depending on the BFU’s findings.