Hoax bomb threat empties the airport

Travelers walk away from the San Antonio International Airport terminals during a bomb threatt on August 1, 2012. Travelers walk away from the San Antonio International Airport terminals during a bomb threatt on August 1, 2012. Photo: Tom Reel, Tom Reel / Express-News Photo: Tom Reel, Tom Reel / Express-News Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Hoax bomb threat empties the airport 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

A bomb threat at San Antonio International Airport wreaked havoc for travelers Wednesday afternoon, prompting the evacuation of both terminals and the cancellation of all air operations for more than two hours until emergency personnel determined the call had been a hoax.

Emergency personnel mobilized swiftly after the 2:19 p.m. phone call to the airport in which a man “who had an accent” said he left luggage at the airport and that “the airport was going to blow up,” officials said.

Flights were grounded and passengers were stranded on planes while employees and travelers in the terminals were evacuated, first to parking lots and then into 25 VIA Metropolitan Transit buses sent to the airport to provide cool places for everyone to wait.

The threat contained specific information about explosives in three cars in the lower level of the short-term parking garage, said Police Chief William McManus

The garage is about 300 feet from Terminal A.

McManus said bomb-sniffing dogs indicated the vehicles might contain explosives, but that nothing could be confirmed until the bomb squad checked them.

By 4:30 p.m. the squads had cleared all three cars as well as the whole short-term garage and both terminals of any threat. They moved on to the long-term garage as a precaution, and that too was cleared.

McManus said the caller gave no reason for the bomb threat. Information wasn't available on what the dogs might have smelled inside the vehicles, but the dogs are trained to sniff-out a variety of scents associated with explosives, according to previous Express-News stories on trained bomb-sniffing dogs.

In a 2006 story, the dogs once keyed in on a parked pickup at the airport with shotgun shells in a toolbox and spent shells in the bed.

As all travel ground to a halt, police blocked access into and out of the airport. Passengers stuck on planes and those arriving to pick up friends or family were left wondering what was happening.

Aviation Director Frank Miller said about 2,000 people in the terminal or on planes were affected.

When Helen Kimsey of San Antonio arrived at the airport to pick up husband Gene, who had just flown in from Denver, he called her saying he wouldn't be let off the plane.

Kimsey then got a call from her daughter letting her know there was a bomb threat. She decided to wait in the parking lot in hopes her husband would be let off the plane soon.

Linda Browne, who drove in from New Braunfels to pick up her son, daughter-in-law and three young grandsons visiting from Virginia, waited in the parking lot for more than an hour while her guests were inside the plane on the tarmac.

“For the 9-year-old, it was his first flight,” she said. “His parents barely got him on the plane he was so scared, and now this.”

Jana Burton said she and her 22-year-old daughter began texting each other, wondering what was going on after their American Airlines flight from Dallas landed and the plane wasn't allowed to taxi to the terminal.

Burton said no one was telling the passengers what was happening, but they could see the airport being evacuated. They were told they weren't allowed to leave and that all incoming and outgoing flights were stopped.

As emergency crews continued their work, Miller had asked that people avoid the airport if possible.

“Don't come to the area,” Miller said, adding there was no place for people to go once there.

By 3:30 p.m., airport officials said people were allowed back into the lobby of Terminal B. About a half-hour later, both terminals were open.

Once the bomb squad cleared all three cars and the parking garages, the airport quickly got back to business as usual, officials said.