RAPID CITY - Passengers on a plane from Minneapolis that was supposed to land at Rapid City Regional Airport on Thursday night ended up right back where they started.

The pilot of Northwest Airlines Flight 1203, which was scheduled to land at Regional Airport at 9:53 p.m., decided not to land at the airport because of dim runway lights, according to airport operations officer Ken Simmons.

"Apparently they were in the vicinity and were circling. We were having a little trouble with our runway lights last night. We were unable to get it to the intensity that they needed it," he said Friday.

The plane eventually turned around and flew back to the Minneapolis airport, Simmons said.

He said the lights were fixed by 1 a.m. Friday. Simmons said it is a temporary fix, which will keep them in proper working order until parts arrive to fix them permanently.

Simmons said the dimmer lights didn't preclude Delta Airlines and United Airlines flights from landing. However, each airline has different rules of operation, he said.

A phone call to the Northwest Airlines corporate media-relations office was not returned Friday.