A serious safety incident occurred at Brussels Airport on the evening of February 5, 2026, when an aircraft operated by SAS Scandinavian Airlines attempted to take off from a taxiway instead of the assigned runway.
The Airbus A320neo, registered SE-ROM, was operating flight SK-2590 from Brussels to Copenhagen with 165 people on board. While taxiing on the outer taxiway system, the crew was cleared for takeoff from runway 07R. However, the aircraft lined up on the parallel taxiway E1, short of the runway, and at 22:03 local time initiated the takeoff roll along taxiways E1–F2–V1.
The crew realised the error at high speed and rejected the takeoff at approximately 100 knots ground speed, just as the taxiway narrowed. The aircraft managed to stop at the intersection of taxiways V1 and C1, only a short distance before the end of the taxiway and in proximity to the airport’s fuel storage area.
Emergency services were immediately dispatched as a precaution. Passengers disembarked onto the taxiway and were transported by bus back to the terminal. No injuries were reported. The flight was cancelled, and passengers were rebooked onto alternative services to Copenhagen.
Brussels Airport later confirmed that the aircraft had commenced its takeoff on a parallel taxiway rather than on the runway. Meteorological conditions at the time were stable, with good visibility, light winds and no significant weather phenomena, suggesting that environmental factors played only a limited role in the incident.
SAS stated that it is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation, which has now been formally opened. The inquiry is expected to examine flight crew actions, air traffic control communications, airport layout and signage, as well as broader operational and human-factor aspects.
According to local media, a Swedish politician who was on board the flight spoke with the captain after the evacuation. He reported that the captain described the situation in the cockpit as “very dramatic” once the crew realised they were on a taxiway, adding that in 28 years of flying he had never experienced anything similar. The same source noted that the crew had urged passengers to take their seats quickly during boarding to avoid missing the allocated departure slot, a detail that may also be considered during the investigation.
An important contextual factor in this incident is that the flight took place in the evening, when visual differences between a runway and parallel taxiways can be less pronounced, particularly at complex airport layouts. Runways are typically equipped with higher-intensity lighting and a clearly defined pattern: white edge lights, white centerline lights and, depending on runway category, distinct threshold, runway end, and approach lighting systems. Taxiways, by contrast, use green centerline lights and blue edge lights of lower intensity, designed for low-speed ground movement.
In nighttime conditions, combined with apron lighting, reflections from a wet surface or general visual clutter in the peripheral field of view, perceptual confusion can occur—especially if a crew relies on an expected runway position rather than a strict positional cross-check against charts and instruments. For this reason, night operations require an elevated level of situational awareness and strict adherence to standard operating procedures before lining up for takeoff.
Although the incident ended without physical consequences, a rejected takeoff initiated from a taxiway is considered one of the most serious runway-safety events in civil aviation. The findings of the investigation are therefore likely to attract significant attention within the aviation community, particularly about flight crew training, cockpit resource management and airport surface operations at night.
