Fort Wayne airport terminal reopens after threat, evacuation

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — The Fort Wayne International Airport terminal reopened Friday afternoon following a threat that led to an evacuation.

The airport said a “potential threat to airport & passenger safety and security” led to the evacuation of passengers and staff.

Transportation Safety Administration officials had picked up on a tweet saying there was a bomb on the next Delta Airlines flight out of the airport. That’s ended up being a flight to Minneapolis. Officials later determined the threat was not credible.

Next, a passenger on the flight wanted to get off the flight and rebook, and authorities found a piece of baggage with abnormalities on that flight, a local airport spokesman said. The bomb squad checked out the bag, which had not yet been loaded onto a plane, while the airport was evacuated. It has not been confirmed that the baggage belonged to the passenger who wanted off the flight.

Shortly before 4:30 p.m., the airport tweeted, “The Airport Terminal Building is now OPEN. Passengers who were evacuated are being reprocessed through TSA. Passengers with outbound flights are able to enter the Airport campus. If you have a flight later this evening please give yourself extra time.”