WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - 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 ( LUV ) plane had been cleared to cross, the

National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday.

The Sept. 12 incident prompted Alaska Airlines Flight 369

, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 airplane with 176 people on board,

to abort takeoff to prevent a collision. The Alaska pilots

quickly applied the brakes, blowing the plane's tires.

The NTSB said a ground controller cleared the Southwest ( LUV )

plane to cross Runway 13 just after 9:13 a.m. and 23

seconds later another controller cleared the Alaska plane to

depart.

The Federal Aviation Administration referred questions to

the NTSB, which is leading the investigation. The FAA has a

separate investigation into the incident, where Southwest

Airlines Flight 2029 - a Boeing 737-700 with 141 people

onboard - was scheduled to depart for Jacksonville, Florida.

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%.

Tracking website Flightradar24 said the Alaska plane was

traveling at 104 knots (120 mph, 193 km per hour) on the runway

before slowing.

The FAA said in April it would install new surface-awareness

technology at four airports including Nashville's by July. The

FAA previously declined to comment on whether the technology was

operating.

In June, the NTSB found that incorrect assumptions by an air

traffic controller led to a February 2023 near-collision between

a FedEx ( FDX ) plane and a Southwest ( LUV ) aircraft in Austin, Texas.

The two planes came within about 170 feet (52 meters) of

each other when the FedEx Boeing 767 was forced to fly over the

Southwest ( LUV ) 737-700 to avoid a crash in poor visibility.