Flights Resume at Hartsfield After Brief Shutdown

What does it take to shut down the world’s busiest airport?

Unfortunately, just a single piece of paper.

A threatening note found on an American Airlines plane caused officials to shut down Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Saturday morning.

Neither police nor airport officials would reveal the contents of the note, only to say that the note was discovered at approximately 7 a.m. ET on the American flight bound for Dallas.

Passengers were taken off the plane; Concourse T was evacuated, and everybody was re-screened by security at the gate. The Atlanta Police Department was called, and they conducted a sweep of the airport, necessitating the issuance of a temporary ground stop that halted all inbound and outbound flights.

The ground stop was lifted after about two hours, and APD gave the all-clear shortly thereafter.

It didn’t take long for the old pros at Hartsfield to return the airport back to normal. At the Domestic North Terminal, passengers reported on-time departures and security lines were manageable.