Southwest plane nearly collides with a private jet at Chicago Midway Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration said that a Southwest Airlines plane and a private business jet narrowly escaped colliding at Chicago's Midway Airport on Tuesday morning.

Southwest Flight 2504 landed safely at Chicago's airport after the crew had to do a go-around to avoid a potential mishap, according to Southwest.

The FAA is investigating the incident, which occurred at 8:50 a.m. local time.

It had left Omaha, Nebraska, that morning, while the private jet flew to Knoxville, Tennessee, a few minutes later.

Southwest aircraft 2504 from Omaha approached the airport for a landing before suddenly aborting to avoid colliding with a business jet taxiing across the runway. To escape the business aircraft, the pilots of the Southwest flight throttled up and ascended aloft while only inches from the ground. According to early flight data, the Southwest airline passed over the business jet at a height of around 250 feet seconds later.

An audio recording from air traffic control indicates that the private jet was cleared to pass one runway but held on another. The private jet pilot repeated the orders to the tower erroneously, and the tower corrected him. The pilot then followed the directions precisely. About 30 seconds later, the Southwest pilot can be heard stating, "going around."

Southwest says no one was wounded in the close incident.

Southwest Airlines has its hub at Chicago Midway Airport. The airline carries more than 90% of the airport's passengers.