Passenger plane aborts landing to avoid colliding with private jet at Chicago airport

A Southwest Airlines plane and a private jet that entered the runway without authorisation experienced a close call at Chicago Midway International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Southwest Flight 2504 landed safely at the Chicago airport after the flight crew had to perform a go-around to prevent a potential incident on Tuesday morning, according to Southwest.

The FAA is investigating the incident, which took place at around 8.50am local time.

The close call comes as the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating a string of safety incidents in recent weeks, including the deadly midair collision over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a Medevac jet crash in Philadelphia and a deadly regional airline crash off the coast of Nome, Alaska.

In the Chicago incident, the Southwest plane was arriving from Omaha, Nebraska, and the private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 350, was headed to Knoxville, Tennessee, according to FlightRadar24.

Air traffic control instructed the private jet to turn left on “Runway 4L, cross Runway 31L and hold short of Runway 31C,” according to audio from LiveATC.net.

The pilot replies saying, “Alright, left on 2 – uh – 4L, cross the 22, or 13C, Flexjet 560.”

Then the air traffic controller on the ground immediately replies to the pilot, “Flexjet 560, negative! Cross 31L, hold short Runway 31C.”

In this screengrab made from video, a Southwest Airlines plane and a private jet are seen in a near miss incident at Chicago's Midway International Airport on February 25. — In this screengrab made from video, a Southwest Airlines plane and a private jet are seen in a near miss incident at Chicago’s Midway International Airport on February 25. (StreamTime Live via CNN Newsource)

Air traffic control audio from the tower also shows the moment the pilot of the Southwest plane chose to perform the go-around to avoid the private jet on the runway.

Air traffic controllers reply, “-west 2504, uh, roger that. Climb, maintain 3,000.”

Once the plane reached 3,000 feet (915 metres) in the air, the pilot asked the tower, “Southwest 2504, uh, how’d that happen?”

“The crew followed safety procedures and the flight landed without incident,” a Southwest spokesperson said in an email to CNN. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”

Flexjet, the company operating the Bombardier Challenger 350, is “aware of the occurrence” in Chicago and “was working to gather more information on this situation,” a spokesperson said in a statement. The private jet can seat up to 9 passengers, according to configurations posted on Flexjet’s website.

The planes came as close as approximately 2,050 feet (625 metres) before the Southwest plane initiated the go-around, according to FlightRadar24.

The Southwest plane flew over the private jet at an uncorrected pressure altitude of 900 feet (275 metres), which was approximately 250 feet (76 metres) above ground after adjusting for pressure and elevation, FlightRadar24 said.

A spokesperson for the NTSB said the agency is “aware” of the event and is “gathering information about it.” Between January 2023 and September 2024, the NTSB investigated 13 runway incursions involving commercial, or for-hire, flights.

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