Atlanta , Georgia ( CNN ) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how an international flight into Atlanta 's major airport landed on a taxiway instead of a runway early Monday . FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said Delta Flight 60 , from Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , to Atlanta 's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport , was cleared to land about 6:05 a.m. Monday on Runway 27R but landed instead on Taxiway M , which runs parallel to the runway . The flight had 194 passengers and crew aboard , according to CNN affiliate WXIA . No other aircraft were on the taxiway , and there was no damage to either the taxiway or the plane , a Boeing 767 , Bergen said . A runway or taxiway collision , particularly with one plane preparing to take off and carrying a full fuel load , would be catastrophic . Bergen said she is n't sure whether or when other aircraft have ever landed on the taxiway at Hartsfield . Both Runway 27R and Taxiway M are 11,890 feet long , Bergen said , but the runway is marked with white lights while the taxiway is marked with blue lights . Delta spokesman Anthony Black said the airline is cooperating with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigation , as well as conducting an internal investigation . The pilots of the flight have been relieved from active flying pending the completion of these investigations , Black said . Bergen and Black said a medical emergency was reported on the plane , but neither offered any details . The incursion came just two weeks after the FAA announced that serious runway incursions were down 50 percent from the year that ended September 30 , 2008 , over the year ending on the same date this year . The FAA said there were 12 serious incursions in 2009 and 25 in 2008 . Only two of the serious incursions involved commercial airliners in 2009 , compared with nine in 2008 . The FAA defines a serious incursion as one in which a collision is narrowly avoided , or there was a significant potential for collision that resulted in the need to take quick corrective action .
Plane landed on road instead of runway Monday morning , FAA said . No other plane was on the taxiway ; it was n't there . The runway is parallel to a road , but they 're marked differently .