Southwest flight touches down at wrong airport
A Southwest Airlines flight with 129 passengers and crew members onboard caused confusion on Sunday, touching down at the wrong Missouri airport.
Dallas bound flight 4013 left Chicago and was scheduled for a stop at Midway Airport in Branson but eventually landed at the smaller Taney County airport, around seven miles away from the intended destination.
A Southwest spokesman said the Boeing 737-700 landed safely and all passengers and crew were safe but gave no reason for the cause of the error.
With a much shorter runway, Taney County airport is unaccustomed to larger commercial planes, mainly serving charter and corporate flights.
A ground crew team was sent immediately from Branson Airport to assist passengers and their luggage according to Jeff Bourk, executive director of Branson Airport.
Passengers were finally transported by bus to Branston airport for the final leg of the scheduled journey to Dallas.
A Federal Aviation Agency spokesman confirmed the FAA is looking into the incident.
Southwest Airlines recently announced it is to end scheduled flights to Branston airport in June.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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