Limited Air Travel Resumes

Air travel resumed in fits and starts across America on Thursday. A two-day ban on flights, prompted by the disastrous terrorist takeover of four jetliners, was lifted after the implementation of new security measures intended to thwart hijackers and reassure skittish passengers.

The restoration of service began in stages at 8 a.m. It was not seamless. Bomb threats forced temporary evacuations of terminals at Los Angeles International Airport and the Orlando, Fla., airport. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will remain closed indefinitely because it is so close to the White House and other major government buildings.

Air traffic into the New York region’s three major airports was halted again in the late afternoon, a shutdown that came after the arrest of a man who police said was carrying false pilot’s identification at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Five or six other people were detained for questioning, authorities said.

Many airlines, United and Southwest included, chose to keep their planes grounded for at least another day. Northwest resumed flying with a limited schedule but then stopped its operations again, saying only that it was “not prudent” to continue. No aircraft had flown from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport by evening.

In airports that did open, passengers could be seen scrambling to patch together itineraries on the run. Still, few travelers seemed to be complaining about the early confusion or the new security procedures. They embraced virtually any precaution--the removal of nail clippers, the elimination of some carry-on luggage and, for at least one flight, a last-minute sweep by shotgun-toting officers. After 48 hours of travel paralysis, they simply were happy to be on the move again.

“Today is probably the safest day to travel,” David Duden, a risk management consultant, said at LAX as he prepared to board a flight for Dallas. “Next week, next month, and six months from now, I’ll be more nervous.”

In reopening the nation’s airspace, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said that individual airports and airlines would be allowed to resume operations only after demonstrating that they had put in place a host of new security measures. By noon, more than 300 of the nation’s 449 towered airports had been cleared to resume service. But by nightfall, fewer than 1,500 jetliners were in the air over the nation--roughly a quarter of the typical traffic for that time.

“What we are trying to do right now,” Mineta told reporters in Washington, “is restore to normalcy, as well as we can, the ability to travel.”

The first commercial flights to take off Thursday were airliners that had been diverted during the chaos of Tuesday, when an emergency grounding scattered aircraft, crews and travelers from Honolulu to Halifax, Canada.

Many aircraft had been rerouted to small, regional airfields where normal maintenance services and fresh flight crews were not available--just two of the many complications in the process of snapping the air travel system out of its paralysis.

Boston’s Logan International Airport, from which two of the doomed airliners departed Tuesday morning, remained closed to passenger traffic, and officials gave no estimate when it might reopen.

“We’re moving cautiously toward reopening the airport by conducting an extremely detailed and exhaustive review of Logan’s operations,” said Virginia Buckingham, executive director of Massport, which runs Logan. “I’m sure the traveling public expects no less.”

Among the new security rules is a ban on curbside check-in, and passengers walked from blocks away to LAX on Thursday, dragging their baggage behind them.

Small knives--believed to be the weapons wielded by terrorists on Tuesday--have been banned. Some airlines and airport restaurants believe even plastic knives are forbidden. In addition, more flights will carry armed air marshals, plainclothes officers and perhaps even U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers.

Some of the new security rules could prove confusing. For example, no one will be allowed past security checkpoints without a valid ticket. But FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said it will be up to the airlines to decide what constitutes a “valid ticket.” It remains unclear whether electronic tickets will be accepted at all locations.

American Automobile Association spokesman Mantill Williams said his organization is advising travelers to arrive at the airport two hours before a domestic flight’s scheduled departure, and to allow three hours for international flights.

“Security is going to have to be much tighter than in the past,” he said, “and I don’t think many people are going to argue with that at all.”

Individual airports and airlines added precautions of their own. At the Phoenix airport, TWA employees examined bags by hand, pulling out clothes, reaching inside shoes. Police officers patrolled the Salt Lake City airport on mountain bikes and walked the terminals of Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport with German shepherds.

At the Newark, N.J., airport, Port Authority police toting shotguns boarded an American Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles. They randomly scrutinized passengers and examined food carts before departing without taking further action.

“They wanted to see if anyone would run when they boarded,” said passenger David Vandervelde of West Hollywood. Most passengers, he added, were “thrilled to see them.”

At John Wayne Airport in Orange County, deputies checked in trunks and even under the hoods of cars arriving at the airport parking structure. Inside the terminal, luggage was searched by hand. Again, complaints were few.

“Of course it’s all right,” said 55-year-old Pat Colbert, who was hoping to fly home to Oklahoma City, “after what’s happened.”

Some passengers appeared visibly unsettled as they boarded. Laura Stephens said her 8-year-old daughter, Danielle, had suffered stomachaches the past two days as they waited to fly from Orange County home to Sacramento.

“She just wants to get home,” Stephens said. “She’s scared. She knows that people died on a plane. She didn’t want to get on a plane today.”

In a terminal at Denver International, a long line of passengers waited to be funneled through a single screening station. Jennifer Gazdecki was flying home to Milwaukee with her husband; their trip to Las Vegas had been spoiled by the Tuesday groundings.

“I’m a little nervous about flying right now,” she said. “We considered renting a car and driving. But we’ll take our chances.”

As the commercial air system began to right itself, pilots of small private planes were confused about when they would be allowed back in the air. Initially, the FAA said it would allow general aviation flights to resume at 11 a.m. That order was reversed, however, just minutes before the skies were reopened.

Not all small-craft pilots got the word in time, and at least two took flight, only to find military jet fighters off their wings, ordering them to return and land.

In one case, two F-18 fighter planes intercepted a 70-year-old man who had flown his single-engine plane into restricted airspace near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. Officials said the man was taken into custody but was not considered a threat. Nor was the pilot of another plane that was intercepted 20 to 30 miles northwest of Washington, according to a senior Defense Department official.

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Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Julie Cart, Peter H. King, Elizabeth Mehren, Tim Reiterman and Stephanie Simon, and researchers Lynn Marshall and Edith Stanley.