File Photo
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
AVOCA — A bomb scare caused a lot of tense moments at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, around 11:23 a.m., the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP) received a bomb threat, causing people in the airport’s facilities to evacuate.
“The only information we are available to release at this time is the Joseph McDade Terminal building, as well as several other buildings, were evacuated of all passengers and personnel,” said Eric McKitish, the airport’s Director of Marketing, Communications & Air Service Development.
Officials are still unsure if there was a specific area of the airport the threat was targeting.
“At this time, there are no details on the specific nature of the bomb threat or from where the threat may have originated,” says McKitish.
The Transportation Security Administration is being assisted by federal and local law enforcement to get to the bottom of the bomb threat.
Only one flight was delayed because of the scare.
“There was only one departing flight affected because of the incident, and that was an American Airlines flight to Charlotte, North Carolina,” according to McKitish.
A reporter from the Times Leader’s media partner — Eyewitness News — spoke with a passenger, Skip Bellus of Florida, who was preparing to fly to Louisiana when the bomb threat was made.
“I was getting ready to board. In fact, we were in pre-boarding stage and the announcement came over, ‘everybody evacuated,’” said Bellus. “It aggravates me that people have to do this in our world. Why? It doesn’t make sense.”
Bellus says this is the first time he’s experienced something like this.
“I’m 65 and been traveling since I’m 18, so no it’s never happened,” says Bellus.
Saturday’s bomb threat comes just days after police in Georgia arrested a juvenile for making threats on social media directed towards schools in Lackawanna County.
As of 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, the airport bomb threat is an ongoing investigation.