Missouri senator blames airline employees for airport mix-up

Air traffic controllers were not responsible for a Southwest Airlines plane landing at the wrong airport last week, CNN reports Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said.

Blunt was discussing the erroneous landing of a Southwest flight from Chicago’s Midway Airport that was destined for Missouri’s Branson Airport. Instead of arriving at its correct destination, the airplane touched down at a nearby private airport in Missouri’s Taney County.

Blunt said this week his impression was that the error was made by Southwest’s pilots, according to the report.

{mosads}”The federal employees involved did what they were supposed to do,” Blunt said. “The airline employees involved did not.”

The incident is under investigation by both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Southwest has announced that the pilots of its errant flight have been suspended during the investigations.

The airline offered free flight credits to the passengers who were traveling on the airplane.