A shocking video from Chicago's Midway Airport circulating on social media Tuesday showed a near miss between a Southwest Airlines flight and an "unauthorized" FlexJet business jet on a runway, with Southwest Airlines aborting a landing to avoid the plane.
The video, posted to the X account Airport Webcams, showed a Southwest Airline flight preparing to land on a Midway Airport runway. Just before touching down, the plane can be seen lifting back up into the air as a jet crosses the runway.
A statement from Southwest Airlines confirming the incident said Flight 2504 landed safely Tuesday morning at Midway Airport "after the 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. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees," the statement continued.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said the event, which took place around 8:50 a.m. Tuesday. occurred when a business jet "entered the runway without authorization."
Audio captured from live air traffic control communications, or LiveATC indicated Southwest Airlines Flight 2504 was cleared to land on Runway 31C by local controllers, with the jet, FlexJet 560 taxing for departure and communicating with ground control at a different frequency.
In the audio, the jet was instructed to cross runway 31L, but stopped short of runway 31C to allow the Southwest Flight to land. Some confusion about the clearance occurs, with the controlling then repeating the instruction.
Southwest Airlines can then be heard initiating the go-around, as well as later asking "how'd that happen?"
A spokesperson from Flexjet said it was aware of the incident and was "working to gather more information" on the situation.
Neither the Chicago Department of Transportation nor the Chicago Department of Aviation immediately returned NBC Chicago's request for comment.
The incident comes after several recent aviation incidents, including at least three fatal crashes so far in 2025.
On Jan. 29, a commercial American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter collided near the nation’s capital, killing 67 people. The collision was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.
Three days later, a medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground. That Learjet generated a massive fireball when it smashed into the ground in a neighborhood not long after taking off from a small airport nearby.
Earlier this month, 10 were killed in a plane crash in Alaska when a commuter flight crashed on Alaska sea ice.
Feb. 17, a Delta plane crash-landed in Toronto, with footage showing the place upside down at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Officials said the flight, which originated from Minneapolis, experienced an "incident upon landing," leaving at least 18 people injured.
Hani Mahmassani, a transportation and engineering professor at Northwestern University, addresses concerns over flying following a series of aviation disasters across the country.
Last week, reports indicated the Trump administration had begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a brief statement it was "analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members.”
A Transportation Department official told the Associated Press at the time that the agency has “retained employees who perform critical safety functions.” In a follow-up query the agency said they would have to look into whether the radar, landing and navigational aid workers affected were considered to handle critical safety functions.
The firings hit the FAA when it faces a shortfall in controllers. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
