KIRO 7 News – by Nick McGurkSEATAC, Wash. — Threats made on social media caused two planes to be evacuated on arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Sunday
A spokesperson said a “security concern” was to blame.
Airport spokesperson Perry Cooper said a JetBlue flight from Long Beach, California, and a regional SkyWest jet from Phoenix were involved. The flights arrived late Sunday afternoon.
SeaTac Airport confirmed Sunday that both planes had safely landed, were deplaned, and that there were no reported injuries sustained.
“I am concerned about it,” said Tiffany Litz, who was on the plane.
“We’re one out of a million flights that actually had a real threat that could have been a bomb, which is pretty crazy—and, actually scary,” she added.
Though SeaTac’s spokesperson couldn’t confirm the bomb threat, JetBlue sent out this tweet to a user earlier Sunday:
“We take tweets like this extremely serious. We’ve passed along your info to our security team.”
On Sunday, police surrounded both of the planes atabout 5:30 p.m.
The aircraft were taken to remote locations on the airfield for investigation, according to police.
Officials said the two affected flights were: JetBlue 1006 from Long Beach, California, and SkyWest 4741 from Phoenix.
By 5:35 p.m., police said the JetBlue flight had been cleared. The second flight was still undergoing investigation.
By 6 p.m., police said both planes had been cleared of security concerns and were returning to their gates.
SeaTac spokesman Perry Cooper said that out of an abundance of caution, passengers were bused to their gates from the airport’s third runway. He said the matter was under investigation and he did not have further details.
Additionally, a Delta Air Lines spokesman says a flight from Los Angeles to Orlando was diverted to Dallas Sunday afternoon due to “a security concern.”
Delta spokesperson Morgan Durrant did not give specifics about the nature of the concern on Flight 1061, saying the company would defer to authorities on providing further details. He said passengers exited the Boeing 737-900, which was being examined by authorities.
The evacuations come one day after bomb threats targeted two jets bound for Atlanta, prompting F-16 fighter jets to escort the planes. Saturday’s threats targeted Southwest Airlines Flight 2492, which arrived in Atlanta from Milwaukee; and Delta Air Lines Flight 1156, which arrived from Portland, Oregon.
It was unclear if any of threats were connected.
Bomb threats are unusual, and two at one time is almost unheard up, Cooper said.
“Two threats: This is the first time I’ve been in a situation where you’ve had two aircraft, that are fairly close in arrival time, for them to be considered in security situations,” Cooper said.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/flights-investigated-after-security-concerns-seata/njw3Y/