legend11
31st Dec 2001, 19:56
Anyone have additional information on Amtran (ATA) flt 214 LAX-MDW delay due to a bomb threat in LAX 12/30/01?
LevelFive
1st Jan 2002, 05:55
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An ATA plane was evacuated and searched at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday after a caller told the carrier there was a bomb on an airplane, but no explosives were found.
However, the aircraft, a model 757 jet manufactured by Boeing Co., was found in the course of the bomb search to have unrelated mechanical problems and was to be replaced for the plane's scheduled Los Angeles-to-Chicago run, said Jack Richter, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Richter said an unidentified individual called the offices of ATA, American Trans Air, Inc., and said there was "a bomb on a L.A. plane," but did not specify on which plane.
The Los Angeles police department initially said the plane to be searched had been en route to the airport and landed safely, but according to an ATA spokeswoman, the plane was actually supposed to be leaving Los Angeles International for Chicago-Midway Airport, and never took off.
The police department said 186 passengers were taken off the plane.
Indianapolis-based ATA is a unit of Amtran, Inc. The airline, serving more than 8 million passengers annually, flies to 32 cities across the United States.
"We're complying with the authorities and doing everything we're supposed to be doing," the ATA spokeswoman said.
Though the passengers were removed from the plane, ATA's terminal at Los Angeles International was not evacuated, Richter said, and operations at the airport were not disturbed during or after the search. He said the call was being treated as an unsubstantiated hoax.