A Southwest Airlines flight at Chicago's Midway Airport swooped up during landing to avoid a close runway collision, as FAA safety concerns mount amid recent layoffs.

The Federal Aviation Administration is launching an investigation after a private jet on a Chicago runway caused a near miss with a Southwest jet.

A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to abort a landing at Chicago Midway airport on Tuesday and narrowly avoided a collision with a business jet that entered the runway without authorisation, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

An American Airlines flight aborted a landing Tuesday morning after the pilot saw a plane preparing to take off on the same runway it was supposed to land on.

National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy says investigations are ongoing into the near-miss between a Southwest airliner and a Flexjet in Chicago.

The harrowing near-miss between a Southwest Airlines plane and a private jet at a Chicago airport was a failure of the private jet crew to listen to air traffic control instructions, according to NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy.