Terminal 4 of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport reopened just before noon Sunday after being partially evacuated earlier in the morning.
Several security checkpoints at Terminal Four were closed for more than three hours while police and bomb-sniffing dogs checked out an unattended car at the airport.
“A portion of PHX Sky Harbor's Terminal 4 is evacuated while police check out something as a precaution. Police are working to resolve this as soon as possible,” the Phoenix airport said on Twitter Sunday morning around 8 a.m.
The terminal serves American, Southwest, British Airways, Air Canada, WestJet, Volaris and Condor.
Six incoming flights from Phoenix to San Diego were delayed for about an hour.
Scott Minium, on business from Washington, D.C., was stuck at the San Diego airport for several hours. “No planes were leaving, no one was going in or out,” he said.
Once flights resumed he said traffic in the airport was bottlenecked. “Unfortunately there were thousands of people in the airport going from one place to another … and it was like mass hysteria. Everybody was calm but it was just this big throng of people trying to move through in one big mass of traffic.”
Local
After an investigation, police determined the car was a rental and authorities were able to remove it from the airport.
“Operations are returning to normal at Terminal 4. Travelers are encouraged to continue to check their flight status with their airlines,” the Phoenix airport added after the terminal reopened.
