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Two American Airlines flights assigned same flight number near Phoenix, FAA says both continued safely

Fox 5 Atlanta reported that an arriving and a departing aircraft at Phoenix Sky Harbor were both operating as Flight 2482 just after midnight on 14 August 2026.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 14, 2026, 9:20 p.m. ETWritten Aug 16, 2026, 3:59 a.m. ET
Developing

This is a developing story. Details reported early are provisional and are frequently revised. Where sources disagree, both readings are given.

Two aircraft were assigned the same flight number, — one arriving at and one departing from Sky Harbor International Airport — on 14 August 2026, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. The situation is still developing and no investigative findings have been made public. According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Flightradar24 reported that the two aircraft were on the same communications frequency. A controller referred to them as "American on approach" and "American on departure" to tell them apart. The outlet reported that the arriving aircraft was descending through 11,000 feet while the departing aircraft climbed toward 9,000 feet. A controller was heard on the radio saying: "Could have been disastrous, but I'm glad it worked out." said there were 295 passengers on both planes, 122 travelling to and 173 to Chicago, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. The Federal Aviation Administration said both flights continued without further incident. The aircraft involved have not been identified. Registry records list 317 aircraft under ; that is a description of the operator's fleet and not an identification of the aircraft in this event. How the duplicate flight number came to be assigned has not been determined, and no authority has stated a cause.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation
1,093 ft
Nearest aerodrome
4.0 miles WNW of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (KPHX/PHX)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 116 Aug 2026, 07:59current

    First published.

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