Bomb Threat Briefly Halts All Flights In And Out Of Washington’s Reagan National Airport

One of the United States’ busiest airports came to a grinding halt on Tuesday due to a bomb threat. Federal authorities said that all flights into and out of Ronald Reagan National Airport in the Washington,

D.C., area were halted due to the threat.

The threat targeted as D.C.-bound United Airlines flight traveling from Houston, Texas, US Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X.

Authorities pull all the other flights on hold and the threatened aircraft was moved to an isolated area of the airfield. Passengers were disembarked and were bussed to the terminal, a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesperson told the Associated Press.

All airport operations resumed at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET, according to Duffy, who thanked law enforcement for a swift response.

Before flights resumed, the average delay time for departing flights outside of the airport was 51 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, according to the the Federal Aviation Administration. The maximum delay time was over two hours.

Flight delays across the country have been on the rise as the federal government enters the second month of a shutdown, leaving air traffic controllers to work without pay.

Duffy warned of chaos in the skies next week if the government shutdown drags on and air traffic controllers miss a second paycheck.

“Many of the controllers said ‘A lot of us can navigate missing one paycheck. Not everybody, but a lot of us can. None of us can manage missing two paychecks,’” Duffy said. “So if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos. You will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have air traffic controllers.”

Democrats say they will only provide votes to end the funding lapse after a deal has been struck to extend expiring insurance subsidies that make health care affordable for millions of Americans.

But Republicans insist they will only address health care once Democrats have voted to switch the lights back on in Washington.