Feb 25 (Reuters) - A Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) jet was

forced to abort a landing at Chicago Midway airport on Tuesday

in a serious near miss incident after a business jet entered the

runway without authorization, the Federal Aviation

Administration said.

Southwest Flight 2504, a Boeing 737-800 arriving from Omaha,

flew overtop a FlexJet Challenger on the runway and performed a

go-around narrowly avoiding the aircraft on the ground. The FAA

is investigating the incident, which occurred around 8:50 a.m.

CT.

A dramatic video posted on social media showed the Southwest ( LUV )

jet nearing touch down and then pulling up and above the FlexJet

that had crossed Runway 31C.

Southwest ( LUV ) said the crew "followed safety procedures and the

flight landed without incident."

Over the last two years, a series of troubling near-miss

incidents has raised concerns about U.S. aviation safety and the

strain on understaffed air traffic control operations.

In October, the FAA said it was opening an audit into runway

incursion risks at the 45 busiest U.S. airports.

Democrats in Congress seized on the fact that the Trump

administration recently fired 352 FAA workers, including some

involved in safety operations.

"Maybe not the best time to fire hundreds of FAA

workers, tell the remaining workers you want to 'put them in

trauma'," Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said the people

fired did not include any "safety-critical positions" or any air

traffic controllers. Duffy did not immediately respond to a

request for comment.

The FAA, which has aging technology and facilities and

needs billions of dollars to modernize, is about 3,500 air

traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels, prompting

the aviation industry and lawmakers to call for action.

On Monday, the FAA said it was investigating another

incident involving a possible close call in Houston on Sunday,

when the crew of Air Shuttle Flight 6034 performed a go-around

due to an unstable approach and conflicted with a departing

SkyWest Airlines flight.

Air traffic control issued corrective instructions to both

flight crews, but the Air Shuttle crew climbed above their

assigned altitude.