Jet Airways A333 and Swiss A333 over Atlantic on Nov 29th 2013, TCAS resolution due to operational error

A Jet Airways Airbus A330-300, registration VT-JWR performing flight 9W-228 from Brussels (Belgium) to Newark,NJ (USA), was enroute at FL370 over the Atlantic Ocean about 150nm southeast of St. John's,NL (Canada).

A Swiss International Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration HB-JHC performing flight LX-16 from Zurich (Switzerland) to New York JFK,NY (USA), was enroute at FL380 along the same track, though offset to the right by 1nm, right above the Jet Airways A330.

At that time, 14:14Z, air traffic control issued a clearance to 9W-228 to fly direct to TOPPS and climb to FL380. The Swiss crew almost instantly reported a TCAS resolution climb at which point the air traffic controller recognized the error and cleared 9W-228 back down to FL370.

Both aircraft continued to their destinations for safe landings.

The Canadian TSB reported that the minimum vertical separation reduced to about 700-800 feet, the lateral separation was less than a nautical mile. NAV Canada have opened an investigation.

FAA radar data show, the Swiss Airbus climbed to FL385 for about 3 minutes between 14:14Z and 14:17Z before returning to the assigned FL380. The FAA radar data do not show the climb of 9W-228 however. Both aircraft climbed about 10 minutes after the event.