Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Dublin had touched down in Lanzarote and were still slowing down when an Iberia Express jet bound for Madrid rolled onto the same runway. Webcam footage of the moment has since gone viral, though questions remain over how it happened.

Webcam footage shows both planes on the runway

A video filmed by Lanzarote Webcam on Monday September 28 shows an Iberia Express flight to Madrid moving onto the runway at César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport while a Ryanair jet that had just flown in from Dublin was still on it.

The video has spread quickly across social media, with viewers wondering how it could happen at in the first place.

According to local reports, the Iberia Express plane (flight IB1502) came onto runway 3 through exit E1 before the Ryanair aircraft (flight FR5910) had fully cleared it. The Ryanair pilot braked in time and carried on until leaving through exit E2, with both planes briefly sharing the same stretch of tarmac.

With one runway serving all of Lanzarote’s holiday arrivals and departures, controllers have to sequence every landing and take-off carefully. Having two aircraft on the runway at the same time is something airports work hard to avoid, which is why the footage has caused such a stir.

Ryanair says its flight landed normally

Ryanair said the flight “landed normally in accordance with ATC (air traffic control) instructions”. However, the key question remains unanswered, which is how the Iberia Express plane came to be on the runway while another was landing. 

No official explanation has been published yet 

None of the reports published so far include a statement from Aena (the company that runs Spain’s airports), ENAIRE (which provides air traffic control in Spain), the aviation safety agency AESA or Iberia Express.

It also isn’t clear how close the two aircraft came, as the footage is the only account so far, and it hasn’t been confirmed whether the incident has been formally reported or is under investigation.

So until the airport operator or the airlines say more, anyone flying in or out of Lanzarote in the coming weeks may want to keep an eye out for an official update.