The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident from March 15 in which the flight crew of a Delta-operated regional flight approaching LaGuardia Airport in New York accidentally contacted the wrong air traffic control tower, triggering a go-around before the aircraft landed safely.
The flight — Delta Air Lines 5752, operated by Republic Airways — was inbound from Washington Reagan National Airport when the pilots established radio contact with the Kennedy Tower rather than the LaGuardia Tower. The two airports are roughly 10 miles apart. Flight audio captured the exchange: the JFK controller, hearing a request for landing clearance at a runway the pilots described as Runway 4, initially responded with confusion before realising the crew had reached the wrong facility.
Once the error was identified, the controller directed the crew to switch to the correct frequency. The pilots acknowledged the mistake and initiated a go-around — a standard procedure that aborts the landing approach and returns the aircraft to a safe altitude for another attempt. The FAA confirmed no other aircraft were involved in the incident. The flight arrived at LaGuardia approximately 25 minutes behind its scheduled time.
Delta Air Lines subsequently confirmed to media that its own flight crew was not aboard the aircraft — it was operated by Republic Airways as a Delta Connection service. The FAA said it is investigating.
The incident adds to a period of heightened scrutiny of aviation safety communications in the United States, following a number of near-miss events and operational errors at busy airports in recent years.