Manchester, N.H., Airport Evacuated after Bomb Threat

May 9, 2005
Sunday threat required emptying of airport for a couple hours

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The Manchester Airport was evacuated for a couple of hours Sunday after officials discovered a bomb threat.

A search of the airport turned up nothing, and passengers were allowed back in and were being processed by mid-afternoon.

"We did a complete sweep of the terminal to ensure the safety of passengers, and when we found nothing we were able to begin to re-screen passengers and resume normal flight operations," said assistant airport director Brian O'Neill.

The airport handles about 11,000 passengers per day, O'Neill said, but he did not have a precise estimate of how many may have been evacuated.

"This is an unfortunate incident," he said. "Manchester Airport always errs on the side of safety for its passengers."