A preliminary report conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed that a Southwest Airlines flight and a Flexjet aircraft came within 200 feet of each other last month, in a near runway collision at Chicago's Midway airport.
The incident occurred on February 25, 2025, when Southwest Airlines flight 2504, a 737-800 aircraft operating a flight from Omaha, Nebraska, imitated the go-around after a Flexjet Challenger, which was operating a service to Knoxville, Tennessee, entered the runway as the Southwest plane was about to touch down.
The report into the incident found that the Southwest flight was 100ft above the runway, when the planes first officer realised that the Flexjet aircraft was not stopping and was going to cross in-front of the landing plane. This prompted the first officer to call for a go-around, which the captain executed.
Flight crew on the Flexjet plane said instructions from controllers did not make sense and said after they sought clarification they were given a new taxi route. The flight crew initially read back the instructions incorrectly, but the controller immediately reissued the instructions and received a correct readback from the crew.
The flight crew on the Flexjet plane reported that as they turned left onto the runway, sunlight from the right side of the aircraft impaired their visibility. However, they did not recall seeing any hold short lines or pavement markings and did not notice the Southwest plane airplane on final approach.
The NTSB reaffirmed that a full investigation into this incident is still ongoing.