A bomb threat led to the suspension of all outgoing flights from Philadelphia International Airport, adding to the travel disruptions over the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
At around 7 p.m. on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented a ground stop advisory at Pennsylvania’s largest airport.
This unsettling alert was lifted approximately 30 minutes later, allowing the airport to return to normal operations.
A police spokesperson informed Reuters that the drastic action was necessary after officers were summoned to handle an issue on a particular aircraft.
Once the situation on the involved plane was resolved and it received clearance for takeoff, the ground stop was revoked.
Earlier this month, two other major airports faced similar threats, causing brief disruptions.
Hundreds of passengers were rushed off a Delta flight at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on November 4 due to a ‘safety concern’ – as per the FAA – that was later revealed to have been a bomb threat.
The same day, all flights arriving and departing at Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, DC, were stopped in connection with a separate threat.
Passengers packed into John F Kennedy Airport in New York on Wednesday
Friday appeared to be a hectic day for air travel, with nearly 4,000 delays for flights traveling to, from or within the US
Friday saw nearly 4,000 flight delays and over 100 cancellations, according to FlightAware.
There were about 1,865 flight delays on Thanksgiving, with roughly 60 flights called off completely.
On Wednesday, more than 6,600 flights entering, exiting or within the US were delayed, while more than 120 were canceled.
The FAA warned fliers returning home from their holiday celebrations that gusty winds could spark delays at airports in Boston, New York, DC and Philadelphia.
Low clouds may slow air traffic in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Friday’s travel chaos came on the heels of a dire Airbus recall that could cause nearly every major US airline to see significant disruptions over Thanksgiving weekend.
Airbus, one of the world’s largest aircraft makers, announced on Friday the discovery of a potential vulnerability in the software on board the Airbus A320.
During solar storms, when bursts of particles from the sun occur, this flaw could interfere with pilots’ ability to steer or stabilize the plane.
Airbus has issued an emergency alert for the A320 passenger jet (pictured) which could suffer electronics problems during solar storms
Industry experts fear the problem could impact 6,000 jets, according to Reuters.
American Airlines says 340 of its planes are affected. Delta, which operates 316 A320 aircraft, said it anticipated ‘limited’ impact without being drawn on an exact number.
United flies 122 of the affected Airbus models but insisted to the Daily Mail that none of its aircraft would be affected.
Frontier, Spirit and JetBlue all rely heavily on their respective fleet of A320 aircraft.
The A320 family of planes also includes smaller A319 and larger A321 models. Most newer jets will only require a software update, but older planes will need to have an onboard computer replaced.
Southwest Airlines is the only carrier exempt from the recall because its entire fleet consists of Boeing 737s.
More than two-thirds of American Airlines’ 480-strong Airbus A320 fleet was affected.
‘Upon notification early this morning, American took swift action to address the software issue Airbus identified as potentially affecting a significant number of Airbus A320 family aircraft worldwide,’ a company spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
The TSA line was extensive at Los Angeles International Airport as fliers waited to board their planes
The A320 recently became the best-selling commercial aircraft in history, surpassing the Boeing 737.
The 737 was plagued by scandal in recent years after a computer flaw on its latest 737-MAX variant was blamed for two fatal crashes that killed more than 300 people.
‘Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers,’ the company wrote in a statement Friday.
