The incident happened Wednesday local time at Kansai Airport.
Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner said flight 450 moved from the taxiway to the runway for takeoff at about the same time an All Nippon Airways cargo plane was coming toward the airport for a landing. The cargo plane aborted its landing and circled back to land.
Japan’s transport ministry said in an initial report that the aircraft proceeded to the runway despite instruction from air traffic controllers to stand by. It described the incident as “serious.”
Wagner said the airline hasn’t listened to the recordings yet and that it’s premature to draw conclusions.
Hawaiian Airlines began flying to Japan last November. The aircraft involved was a Honolulu-bound Boeing 767 carrying 196 passengers and 12 crew members. Two people were aboard the ANA cargo plane.
There were no injuries or damage to either plane, the ministry said.
