Preliminary report reveals SAS A320neo reached 127 knots (235 km/h) before aborting taxiway take-off at Brussels Airport

A preliminary report by the Belgian Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) has revealed new details about last month’s serious incident at Brussels Airport, in which a Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A320neo nearly took off from a taxiway instead of the assigned runway.

The aircraft, registered SE-ROM, was operating flight SK2590 from Brussels to Copenhagen on 5 February 2026 when it began accelerating on taxiway E1 after mistakenly lining up there rather than on runway 07R. The crew aborted the take-off and the aircraft came to a safe stop, with passengers later evacuated without injuries.

According to the AAIU’s preliminary findings, the flight crew had been cleared for departure from runway 07R via intersection C6, a shorter route suggested by air traffic control to save time.

However, under dark and wet conditions, the pilots believed they had reached intersection C6 when, in fact, they were still on the parallel taxiway E1. Investigators say the confusion may have been compounded by several factors. The red stopbar lights at the actual C6 intersection were extinguished by air traffic control at the moment the aircraft approached the wrong turn, and an important illuminated information sign in the area was reportedly defective at the time.

During the take-off roll, the captain reportedly noticed that the forward visual cues were becoming increasingly narrow, raising doubts about the aircraft’s position. The first officer then recognised the error and called “stop, stop, stop.”

The crew immediately applied maximum braking and thrust reversers. By that point, the aircraft had already accelerated to 127 knots (235 km/h), just below the decision speed (V1) of 132 knots (244 km/h), beyond which aborting a take-off may no longer be safe.

The aircraft eventually came to a halt only a few metres from a perimeter fence and a public road, according to the report.

Investigators describe the area around the C6 intersection as a known airport “hotspot”, a complex taxiway layout requiring heightened attention from both pilots and controllers.

The report also notes that at the time of the incident, only one air traffic controller was handling both ground and runway frequencies, after a supervisor had decided to temporarily combine the positions. The controller was responsible for seven aircraft movements, including taxiing and recently landed flights, while a second controller was on break.

Belgium’s air navigation service provider Skeyes has already opened its own internal investigation into the circumstances of the event.

The Airbus A320neo involved was equipped with basic take-off monitoring systems, but it did not have the more advanced TOS2 software or a Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS) installed, both designed to warn crews if a take-off is attempted from the wrong surface.

In response to the incident, SAS has announced plans to accelerate the installation of “Airport Moving Map” systems across its fleet, improving situational awareness for pilots during ground operations.

The AAIU emphasised that the report is preliminary, and that the full investigation—including human factors and air traffic control procedures—may take up to a year to complete.