A United Airlines flight was evacuated at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a bomb threat, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday.
“Earlier today a United flight from Houston to Washington D.C. received a bomb threat. The flight landed safely at DCA, passengers were evacuated, and law enforcement conducted a full search of the aircraft,” Duffy said in a post on the social platform X.
“The @FAANews has received the all clear and operations have resumed. I want to thank our brave men and women in law enforcement for their quick response,” he added.
In a statement provided to The Hill by United, the airline said that “United flight 512 landed safely after a potential security concern.”
“Customers deplaned via airstairs and were bused to the terminal. Law enforcement officials searched and cleared the aircraft and it has since taxied to the gate,” the statement continued.
According to United, the plane was a Boeing 737 Max 8 that originated at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport with 89 passengers and six crew members on board.
National Airport posted on Tuesday afternoon that the United flight touched down close to 11:30 a.m., “and then stopped on an adjacent runway” some distance from a terminal because of “a security threat.”
“Airport runways remained closed until passengers were safely offloaded and bused to the terminal. Runways reopened at 12:50 p.m.,” the airport added in an X post.
The incident comes as the American aviation system is already under distress due amid the government shutdown. On Tuesday, Duffy said that his department may have to shutter certain parts of U.S. airspace next week if the shutdown persists
Blaming congressional Democrats for the over one month-long shutdown, the Transportation secretary told reporters that if the stalemate does not finish by mid-November, the American air travel system “will see mass chaos.”
