Footage shows near-miss above Melbourne Airport

The Qantas jets reportedly passed within 1,852 metres of each other. Photo / ABC via 7 News

Footage has emerged showing two Qantas jets involved in a scary near-miss above Melbourne Airport.

Filmed by a passenger on board one of the planes, the footage shows one plane pass directly under the other as both were forced to abandon their landings.

According to the ABC the incident in July last year involved two Qantas Boeing 737s that were in the air preparing to land while an Emirates Boeing 777 was on the runway about to take off.

The Emirates plane was cleared for take-off and began to head down the runway. As it gathered speed, a Qantas plane appeared on the radar behind it, ready to land on the same runway.

A second Qantas aircraft was approaching from the right.

To avoid a collision both Qantas pilots aborted their landings.

The planes were said to pass less than 1852 metres apart.

One of the planes also breached the minimum altitude distance above the terminal.

Senator Nick Xenophon said a "series of systematic failures" led to the near miss.

Both Qantas planes were forced to abandon landings. Photo / 7 News

He said an air traffic controller trainee, a training instructor and a tower coordinator were working in the control tower at the time of the incident.

While many airports have parallel runways, Melbourne has intersection runways. A set-up criticised by safety analysts.

In a statement, Airservices Australia said there was never a threat to passenger safety during the incident.

- nzherald.co.nz