Bomb Threat Halts Flights at One of Busiest US Airports

All flights into and out of one of the United States' busiest runways were halted for a time Tuesday due to a bomb threat, authorities announced. The threat was directed towards a United Airlines flight traveling from Houston, Texas, to Ronald Reagan National Airport in the Washington, DC area, US Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X. All other flights were put on hold while the aircraft was moved to an isolated area of the airfield and the passengers disembarked and were bussed to the terminal, according to a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. KHOU reports that the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at 11:18am Eastern.

The aircraft was searched and all airport operations resumed at approximately 1:30pm, according to Duffy, who thanked law enforcement for a swift response. Before flights resumed, the average delay time for departing flights outside of the airport was 51 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, according to the the FAA. The maximum delay time was over two hours. Flight delays across the country have been on the rise as the federal government enters the second month of a shutdown, leaving air traffic controllers to work without pay, the AP reports.