This resulted in a number of flights being diverted to Tenerife Airport, including the ill-fated KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736.
The Boeing 747 was carrying 524 passengers, including crew when it crashed into mountainous terrain at Mount Takamagahara, north-west of Tokyo.
The collision occurred soon after the Saudia flight took off from New Delhi, while the Kazakhstan flight was readying for its arrival.
Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed outside of Paris because of a design flaw and the failure of Moroccan baggage handlers to properly read and understand instructions provided to them in both English and Turkish language.
Disaster struck just moments after takeoff as one of the engines from the left wing of the plane separated from the aircraft, flipping over the top of the wing.
The flight did not get very far and crashed into the Arabian Sea, just off the coast of Mumbai, within minutes of takeoff.
The aircraft hurtled past the runway and fell over the cliff causing the plane to disintegrate and catch fire.