"Flint airport evacuated for hours due to threats"

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Flint airport evacuated for hours due to threats
Bishop International resumes normal operations after terminal, two planes
emptied over bomb calls.
The Associated Press


FLINT, MI -- Bishop International Airport in Flint was ordered evacuated for
several hours Wednesday evening after nine bomb threats were received by
telephone, authorities said.

The terminal and two airplanes on the ground were ordered evacuated shortly
after the threats were called in to the airport's crash, fire and rescue
department about 5 p.m., said Tad Hutcheson, vice president of marketing for
AirTran Airways, the biggest carrier at Bishop.

"There was a nonspecific bomb threat called into the airport. ... It did not
mention any airline by name," Hutcheson said. "We evaluated the threat. We
considered it a nonspecific threat, but we take it seriously nonetheless."

Norm Brewer, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman in
Washington, said shortly before 9 p.m., "All is clear in Flint and aviation
operations are back to normal."

Brewer said he did not know whether any bombs were found or if there were
any suspects or arrests.

AirTran Flight 246, with 116 passengers and five crew members aboard,
arrived from Atlanta at 5:43 p.m. "When he touched down in Flint, that's
when the airport operations advised the captain he had to go to remote
parking," Hutcheson said.

Law enforcement officials and emergency crews surrounded the Boeing 717, and
passengers were held on the aircraft until about 8 p.m. before being allowed
to deplane. The plane was searched and baggage was searched and scanned,
Hutcheson said.

Flight 246 was scheduled to leave Flint at 6:45 p.m., but likely would not
leave until almost 10 p.m., Hutcheson said. "It's going to run later than it
normally would, but it's returning to normal now," he said about 8:30 p.m.

An American Eagle flight and a small Cessna plane also were directed to the
remote parking lot, the executive said.

Airport spokeswoman Pat Corfman said four or five flights were diverted away
from Bishop, but it was not immediately clear where they were sent.

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