State College’s University Park Airport evacuated after ‘suspicious item’ found in luggage
University Park Airport was evacuated Friday after a suspicious item was found in a piece of checked luggage, the same day thousands of students were prepared to head home for spring break.
The evacuation of the general passenger terminal was “out of an abundance of caution,” Penn State police wrote in a statement issued at about 6:30 p.m. After the airport was closed to air traffic and passengers “until further notice” Friday evening, police wrote in a statement issued about 10:50 p.m. that normal operations would resume at 4 a.m. Saturday.
Investigators worked to X-ray the contents of a checked bag that was on a flight to Chicago. A hazardous device team was able to “render safe” the contents of the bag, police wrote in the late Friday statement.
“There is no current threat,” police wrote for the first time in a series of four statements.
The Transportation Security Administration alerted university police at about 4:40 p.m. that a TSA officer at the airport had identified a piece of scanned luggage as containing a suspicious item, according to a Saturday morning Facebook post from the airport.
It was not immediately clear why investigators described the item as suspicious. The item was not an explosive device, university spokeswoman Lisa Powers wrote in an email Friday night before adding she was unable to share more information.
“The Hazardous Device Team was able to identify the suspicious item as being safe and non-explosive,” the airport’s Facebook post stated.
No incoming or outgoing flights were scheduled at the time of the evacuation, police wrote in a Friday statement.
At least one flight was diverted but later landed at the airport, according to flight tracking site FlightView. More than a handful of inbound and outbound flights were delayed or canceled.
Bryan Rodgers, University Park Airport director, declined to comment Friday evening.
About 100 passengers were bused to campus, where they were provided with food, police wrote.
Penn State junior Aran Jacobs was planning to fly back to Indiana for spring break, he wrote in a message to the Centre Daily Times. The weather risk management major wrote a police officer was “asking for somebody” minutes before he was about to board his flight.
Police were unable to locate the person and asked passengers to “move to one side of the airport,” Jacobs wrote.
“Then all (of a) sudden they told us we have to head outside. We got outside and there were a bunch of emergency vehicles surround(ing) the place and blocking the entrances,” Jacobs wrote. “We stood outside for about an hour before they got some buses to bus us back to campus.”
Passengers, Jacobs wrote, were taken to Findlay Commons and were provided with a free buffet.
This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 6:38 PM.
