Flight Is Diverted After Threat

An American Eagle commuter flight from New York to Washington was diverted Saturday after a passenger made a bomb threat and demanded to be flown to Australia, the FBI said.

There was no bomb and “there is no indication that it was terrorism-related,” said Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman at the FBI’s Washington field office. “It was the unreasonable demands of an unruly passenger.”

Flight 4959 left New York’s LaGuardia Airport about 11 a.m. for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is near the Pentagon, the White House and other areas deemed potential terrorist targets. After the unidentified passenger passed a threatening note to a flight attendant, the crew diverted the plane to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Washington.

Weierman said the 23 passengers and crew were evacuated without incident, and the man was taken into custody.

Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the plane and luggage had been screened, and no explosives were found.