Returning To The Air

Boston's Logan International Airport reopened Saturday, leaving Reagan National Airport at Washington the only major U.S. airport still closed to travel.

Federal officials also reopened the skies to most private planes for the first time since grounding them in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

The hijackers - boarding flights in Boston, Newark, N.J., and Washington - had crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon in closely timed attacks. A fourth hijacked jetliner that crashed in rural Pennsylvania had appeared headed for Washington.

Limited air travel resumed over the country Thursday and was lurching toward normalcy Friday and Saturday. The first flight from Logan airport left just before 7 a.m. Saturday for Chicago.

Travelers did not seem to mind the added restrictions, the long waits, or the presence of U.S. marshals, armed state police and Border Patrol officers. A sign told passengers that once past security checkpoints, they could be subject to random searches and verification of their tickets and identities.

Joe Carnation, 64, of Santa Rosa, Calif., was among about 200 passengers waiting for flights out of Boston early Saturday. He said his flight out had been canceled five times but he could be patient.

"They need to do what they need to do to make it safe," Carnation said. "There's nothing you can do about it."

A group of high school students visiting from Venezuela said they decided it was safe to fly home when they heard about the increased security. "There's a lot of dogs and policemen," said Maria de los Angeles. "I feel comfortable."

Travelers everywhere faced long lines, delays and limited service as airports implemented mandatory federal security measures, including a ban on curbside check-in and limited access to ticketed passengers beyond security screening points.

Federal authorities said Friday that Reagan National Airport will eventually reopen, but its proximity to the Pentagon and other federal buildings created enough security concern to keep it closed for now.

Delta Air Lines Inc., the No. 3 U.S. airline, said that it expects to operate 60 percent of its normal schedule Saturday, or about 1,500 flights, in all areas of its global network.

The company said it plans to operate a full westbound schedule of 17 flights across the North Atlantic and 17 of 27 eastbound flights. The carrier also intends to operate a limited number of northbound flights from Latin America to the U.S., and three eastbound flights from Japan to the U.S.

Delta Connection carriers ACJet, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Comair and SkyWest, are all operating and most Delta Connection carriers intend to fly more than 75 percent of their schedules, they said.

As a result of the hijackings and subsequent subsequent airport closings, Continental Airlines, citing expected drop in air travel, says it will cut its schedule by 20 percent and furlouh 12,000.

Northwest Airlines also announced it was cutting flights by 20 percent. Company president Doug Steenland wouldn't say how many Northwest employees might be affected by the cuts.

Washington-Dulles International Airport and Newark International Airport reopened Thursday.

Arrivals and departures across the nation were spotty.

Some terminals at New York's Kennedy International Airport looked like ghost towns, with restaurants shut down and only an occasional taxi passing outside. Others were mobbed with travelers, some of whom had spent days sleeping on cots and eating out of vending machines.

Increased security was evident everywhere.

At Newark, armed police officers detained one airline passenger who made an offhand remark but later determined there was no threat, said Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.

Lines hundreds of passengers long snaked through the check-in area of one Newark terminal shortly after it reopened Friday. By evening, 38 flights had taken off and 23 had landed, said Ralph Tregale, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.

ACleveland's Hopkins International Airport, operations were slowed by airline delays and cancellations. Only about half of the normal 400 to 600 flights were available, said Hopkins spokeswoman Natalia Martinovic.

"Some airlines are having a pretty successful day, others aren't," she said.

At Honolulu International Airport, passengers faced an hour wait at state agriculture X-rays, an hour to check in with their airlines and another hour at the security check before proceeding to their gates.

Fourteen empty planes from Japanese airlines were ferried in to pick up some 3,000 stranded Japanese tourists, said Marilyn Kali, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

Armed guards from the Hawaii National Guard who began patrolling the airport concourse Thursday were still there Friday.

The decision to reopen the nation's skies to most private aircraft involved some 200,000 planes that had been grounded along with the jetliners.

Under the arrangements the government announced, general aviation pilots must file flight plans with the Federal Aviation Administration and be directed by air traffic controllers. Private planes using airports without control towers will remain grounded, though Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said those flights will likely resume soon.

Some private flights that did take to the skies this week were ordered down by fighter jets.

Two F-16 fighter jets forced a small plane to land at Monroe County Airport in Indiana for violating the flight ban. In Vermont, fighter jets intercepted a plane flying low over a nuclear plant. It turned out to be a small UPS delivery plane. Air traffic picked up steadily on routes in and out of the United States on Saturday, as international airlines resumed many services following the U.S. flight ban imposed after Tuesday's suicide hijack attacks.

But security was never tighter as stranded Americans, some grieving for loved ones, lined up to head home.

Many carriers banned passengers from carrying on even nail files and scissors, as well as pocket knives. Others removed the metal cutlery from first class, replacing it with plastic.

"I just want to go home," New Yorker Peter Strastny said at Vienna's airport. His apartment was just a few blocks from the World Trade Center destroyed by two of the four hijacked jets.

All over Europe and Asia long lines built up as most U.S.-bound flights resumed after Friday's reopening of U.S. airspace but security checks stretched for up to three hours and airlines struggled to clear passenger backlogs.

"If it's necessary, we've just got to cooperate," said a patient American vacationer waiting for a seat at London's Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. "It's all very orderly."

In some places, like Amsterdam's big hub at Schipol, mass cancellations by those who had planned vacations or non-essential business trips meant Dutch carrier KLM's first U.S.-bound flight since Tuesday left with dozens f empty seats.

Travelers were advised to confirm seat availability before arriving at airports and to check in at least three hours before departure, increased from two hours for more thorough screening.

Airlines gave priority to those stranded longest or those who most needed to travel. One British honeymoon couple told Sky News television they spent their wedding night camped out at Heathrow after giving their seats to Americans late on Friday.

Transport ministers from the 15-member European Union agreed late on Friday in Brussels to tighten enforcement of what had previously been voluntary guidelines for airlines on security, including checks on hand baggage and luggage taken in the hold.

British minister Stephen Byers said completely new procedures, such as armed guards and sealed cockpits, should now be considered to deal with the new threat of suicide hijackers.

"We will now look at the other measures that we will have to put in place to deal with people who will kill indiscriminately and who will take their own lives as well," Byers said.

They could be armed with clubs, tear gas, electric stun guns or baton rounds. But bullets would rip open the aircraft cabin.

An opinion poll among viewers of Britain's Sky News found only 26 percent now felt it was safe to fly.

Airlines in Asia reported cancellations as U.S. operations slowly returned to normal. U.S. airports were mostly reopened but services were far from smooth.

Hong Kong's Airport Authority said tougher security measures imposed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seemed to be causing some cancellations and delays.

"Airlines leaving the U.S. need to get approval from the FAA on a case-by-case basis so that's taking longer, along with heightened security measures," an Authority spokeswoman said.

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