About 10 flights were delayed or diverted from Colorado Springs Airport after a bomb threat closed the terminal Monday for nearly two hours.
“The plane landed. We just sat there for an hour,” said 11-year-old Chris Laird, who was traveling with his sister, Sarah, 14. “People got up and went to the restroom. We hanged out with the flight attendant.”
Laird, of Bedford, Texas, who was headed to Colorado Springs to visit his grandfather Tom Austin, said that flight attendants had handed out water and snacks.
Some planes were allowed to land at the airport but were not allowed to taxi near the terminal. Four without enough fuel were diverted to other airports. No planes took off as passengers waited directly in front of the terminal at a safe distance, said John Leavitt, a spokesman for the city.
Authorities reopened the airport at 3:50 p.m., nearly two hours after police evacuated it. Delayed flights began taking off about a half-hour later.
The threat was called in to the airport at 1 p.m., according to Mark Earle, director of aviation at the airport.
He could not give specifics but said the information was plausible enough for authorities to be called in.
The terminal was cleared at about 2 p.m. Several hundred people were inside the airport. About 10 flights going into or out of the airport were affected, Earle said.
Police called in the fire department to assist in the response, said Leavitt.
Authorities also called in bomb-sniffing dogs from nearby Peterson Air Force Base and Fort Carson, Earle said.
No devices were found.
Traffic on Milton Proby Highway leading into the airport was stopped about a mile and a half before the airport.
Some cars were being turned around.
Rocky and Madeleine Khosla of Pueblo were heading to the airport for a 4:45 p.m. flight when they were stopped by police.
“This could be worse,” said Rocky Khosla. “You’ve heard about people sitting six to eight hours in a plane, so (waiting in a car) is better.”
Staff writer Manny Gonzales contributed to this report.
