Durango air traffic halted

Durango air traffic halted

Sept. 11, 2001

By Tom Sluis
Herald Staff Writer

All air traffic was halted at La Plata-Durango Airport for at least the next few hours under orders from the Federal Aviation Administration following the hijacking of several airplanes, two of which crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City.

"There are no departures anywhere," said Aviation Director Ron Dent. United Express, America West and Rio Grande Air fly into the La Plata-Durango Airport. Dent said inbound flights to Denver International Airport were allowed to land.

Security at the airport has been heightened, Dent said. No cars are allowed to park in front of the airport, but parking lots are still accessible. Two La Plata County Sheriff’s Office deputies are stationed at the airport.

"People are starting to roll in for the flights, but they are starting to hear the news through the media," Dent said.

At 6:53 a.m. (MDT) a hijacked 737 struck one of the two World Trade Center buildings in a presumed terrorist attack. A second hijacked plane struck the second tower shortly thereafter; both have collapsed. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, and a fourth had reportedly crashed outside Pittsburgh.

About 50,000 people work in the World Trade Center buildings. Employees would have been just starting their workday when the attacks occurred.

At Durango, two flights of the 16 scheduled left before the 7 a.m. news of the crash in New York, Dent said. An America West Express scheduled to leave at 8:44 was grounded. The airport handles between 500-600 people a day, Dent said, with the first plane leaving at 5:54 a.m.

"This will be extraordinarily disruptive," Dent said. "The airlines are trying to organize a response, but when you shut down air traffic, it will bottle up demand and push them into the next few days."

Dent said people should avoid the airport until they hear differently.

Security at local airports is the first line of defense for the nationwide airline system because once a passenger is cleared, they are cleared for the entire system, Dent said.

"Security here is as tight or tighter than at the larger airports," he said.

He has been at the airport for 16 years. The only serious security incident was around 1988 when a man scaled an 8-foot fence and tried to board a plane. The man was arrested.