A Southwest Airlines-operated Boeing 737 initiated a go-around at Chicago Midway International airport to avoid colliding with a business jet that had entered the runway without authorisation from air traffic control (ATC).
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the near-miss occurred around 08:50 Chicago time on 25 February, adding that it is investigating the incident.
The US National Transportation Safety Board has launched a separate inquiry.
Video circulating on social media purportedly shows the 737-800, inbound from Omaha, nearing the runway at Chicago Midway but aborting its landing as a Flexjet Bombardier Challenger 350 crosses the runway.
ATC instructed the business jet to hold short of the runway prior to the incursion, according to communications archive LiveATC.
Asked to comment on the incident, Southwest says that flight 2504 ”landed safely” after the flight crew performed ”a precautionary go-around to avoid a possible conflict with another aircraft that entered the runway”.
”The crew followed safety procedures and the flight landed without incident,” Southwest says.
The Flexjet-operated Challenger 350 had recently arrived from Aspen and later completed a flight from Chicago to Knoxville, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
Near-misses and ATC staffing issues have been grabbing headlines in recent weeks, with the deadly collision of a PSA Airlines regional jet and US Army helicopter in Washington, DC – and the fiery crash of a Endeavor Air regional jet at Toronto Pearson International airport – leaving airlines and the North American flying public shaken.
