No Resumption of U.S. Airline Service Yet

Photos Reuters Photo Audio/Video Acts of Terror (ABCNEWS.com)

By John Crawley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. air space remained closed on Wednesday to commercial and other civil aircraft despite hopes by federal aviation authorities to resume service by noon EDT at the earliest.

The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) said earlier in the day that it expected to reopen the skies to commercial and private air traffic by midday, but that time passed with the prohibition still in place.

``The ground stop has not been lifted,'' FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.

Some major airlines either pushed back their schedules until later on Wednesday or canceled flights for the day altogether.

U.S. air space was shut down for the first time ever on Tuesday after the hijackings and dramatic attacks on landmark buildings in New York and Washington.

A scheduled announcement on a resumption of service by Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta (news - web sites) was abruptly postponed, however, and officials said any updates would come from the White House.

It was unclear even if a decision had even been reached. Officials said privately that addressing new security measures at airports and airlines had likely complicated the decision-making on when to resume service.

The airlines, FAA and federal transportation policy makers have been holding regular conference calls on what security and other operational steps to take.

``The FAA is setting new standards that the airports and the airlines will have to meet before they can resume operations,'' Dorr said. ``It is up to them to determine how they can meet those standards.''

Some airports and airlines have been notified of tougher standards, but not all of them, officials said.

They would not disclose what new security measures would be mandated, but Mineta said late on Tuesday that curb-side baggage check-in would be eliminated and there would be closer surveillance and more stringent searches.

 

Photos Reuters Photo

Many U.S. airports remained closed and several big airlines have said they would not resume flights until later in the day, if permitted by the government. Many flights for Wednesday already had been canceled.

Aviation officials said opening the air space would not necessarily mean a full-scale resumption of service. Big carriers need to move an undetermined number of planes around to fit their schedules, and authorities acknowledge that it will take time to put them in place.

``When the ground stop is lifted, it is up to the airlines to resume their flights,'' FAA spokesman Hank Price said.

``There have to be adjustments,'' another FAA official said. ''People ought to call their airline to see if there will be a plane to take them where they want to go.''

UAL Corp.'s United Airlines said in a statement that it would not resume operations until at least 7 p.m. EDT.

Delta Air Lines, the third-largest U.S. airline, canceled all flights scheduled to operate through 6 p.m. EDT. The cancellations affect all Delta, Delta Shuttle and Delta Express flights.

Southwest Airlines canceled all flights on Wednesday.

The FAA halted all air traffic on Tuesday following the hijacking and crashes of four commercial airliners in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

It was the first national grounding of all commercial aircraft. Military, law enforcement and emergency aircraft were still flying.

There are roughly 40,000 departures of scheduled air service daily in the United States, and at any time during a typical weekday morning more than 4,000 planes are in the air.

An undetermined number of domestic flights in the air during Tuesday's tragedies broke from their flight schedules and diverted to other airports. The pilots and airlines, not the FAA, determined where planes would land.

Aviation authorities also said most big U.S. airport terminals were closed overnight, so bringing those facilities back on line might take time.

Earlier Stories
Airlines Plan to Resume Flights Today (September 12)
U.S. Airlines Plan to Resume Flights Today (September 12)
U.S. Airlines Plan for Flight Resumption (September 12)

Archived Stories by Date:

Sep 11 Sep 10 Sep 09 Sep 08 Sep 07 Sep 06 Sep 05 Sep 04 Sep 03 Sep 02 Sep 01 Aug 31 Aug 30 Aug 29 Aug 28 Aug 27 Aug 26 Aug 25 Aug 24 Aug 23 Aug 22 Aug 21 Aug 20 Aug 19 Aug 18 Aug 17 Aug 16 Aug 15 Aug 14 Aug 13

News Resources Message Boards: Post/Read Msgs (263 msg Sep 12, 5:03 PM ET) Conversations: Start a live discussion News Alerts: terrorist terrorism world trade center osama | FAA | Norman Mineta | Pentagon More Alerts: News Bulletins, News, Mobile, Stocks