WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it is opening an audit into runway incursion risks at the 45 busiest U.S. airports after a series of troubling near miss incidents.

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board said air-traffic controllers cleared an Alaska Airlines jet last month to take off at Tennessee's Nashville International Airport on the same runway where a Southwest Airlines plane had been cleared to cross.

The runway incursion audit will include a risk profile for each airport, along with identifying potential gaps in procedures, equipment, and processes, and recommendations to improve safety and is expected to be concluded in early 2025. Over the last two years, a series of near-miss incidents have raised concerns about U.S. aviation safety and the strain on understaffed air-traffic-control operations. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said last month the number of serious runway-incursion incidents had fallen by over 50%.