Thousands of Sky Harbor workers may be laid off this fall

Dawn Gilbertson, Samuel Hoyle and Stephanie Morse | The Republic | azcentral.com

Two security checkpoints and ticket counters at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport's Terminal 4 were shut down Wednesday morning due to a suspicious package, officials said.

By 8:30 a.m., the checkpoints had reopened and passengers were heading back to their gates. Lines are long, though, due to a backlog of delayed passengers.

Airport officials said the A and D security checkpoints were closed and passengers were sent to the B and C checkpoints. In addition, the ticket counters for American Airlines and Southwest Airlines were closed, spokeswoman Heather Lissner said.

The Terminal 4 A & D Security Checkpoints are currently closed. Passengers should use the B & C Checkpoints. More details to come. — PHX Sky Harbor (@PHXSkyHarbor) November 8, 2017

Officials are conducting additional screening for the suspicious package as it passes through security at Terminal 4, according to Phoenix police Sgt. Jonathan Howard.

The area was cleared as a precaution until the screening is complete.

Nick Oza/The Republic

Flight delays are expected so travelers should check with their airline before heading to the airport for a flight or to pick up passengers. Local television news helicopter pictures showed dozens of passengers being loaded onto buses on the airport tarmac.

Kristy Smith was caught up in the travel mess. She was due to fly to Jacksonville, Florida, on American Airlines and was put on a bus from the A gates to the B gates and then back to the A gates. She expected to miss her connection in Dallas because of the flight delays caused by the shutdown.

My @SouthwestAir flight just landed at @PHXSkyHarbor and due to a suspicious package, they are not letting anyone to leave. All flights grounded. Wouldn’t it make more sense to get people out? @thepointsguy pic.twitter.com/CVpMn37P4o — Ryan Maxwell (@RMaxwellSAU) November 8, 2017

Phoenix Sky Harbor T4 ticket counters and A concourse on a security lock down. #phx pic.twitter.com/DZspSjpKFr — robbie camplin (@RobbieCamplin) November 8, 2017

A similar incident caused travel troubles a month ago.

Southwest and American Airlines are the airport's busiest carriers, accounting for more than 80 percent of Sky Harbor's passenger traffic.

Check back with azcentral for updates.