The flight, which was carrying 124 people and five crew members from Chicago to intended destination Branson Airport in Missouri, ended up landing seven miles away at Taney County Airport, on a runway half the required size.
The flight is now under investigation and it remains unclear as to what went wrong.
Southwest Airlines spokesman Brad Hawkins said in a statement: “The landing was uneventful and all customers and crew are safe. Our ground crew from the Branson airport arrived at the airport to take care of our customers and their baggage.”
Scott Schieffer, who was a passenger on the plane, told Sky News that when they landed, the pilot applied the break very “forcibly,” presumably because of the shorter runway.
He added that a flight attendant then announced, “Welcome to Branson,” but a moment later the pilot came on the public address system and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to tell you that we have landed at the wrong airport.”
