Spirit Airline Halts Plane Takeoff Near Washington Citing 'Suspicious Activity'

Brittany M. Hughes | November 17, 2015
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(Photo Credit: Suzanne Kennedy via Twitter)

 

A Spirit Airlines plane set to take off from Baltimore-Washington International Airport Tuesday morning was called back and all passengers were removed from the plane over what the airline called “suspicious activity.”

The spark that set off the entire incident? A woman and a small child got up and quickly moved to the back of the plane as it was taxiing along the runway, said one witness.

According to a Fox45 news report:

Spirit Airlines confirmed that four passengers were removed from the plane "out of an abundance of caution" after a passenger alerted a flight attendant of a person "engaged in suspicious activity on board."

The report added that Spirit Airlines released the following statement after the incident:

Spirit Airlines flight 969, scheduled for a 6am departure from Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) to Chicago O'Hare international Airport (ORD), experienced a delay this morning due to law enforcement activity. While the aircraft was taxiing to the runway, a passenger alerted a flight attendant of a passenger engaged in suspicious activity on board. The flight attendant notified the captain, and out of an abundance of caution, the plane returned to the gate. Law enforcement officers removed four passengers from the plane for questioning. All passengers were deplaned for a brief time. The aircraft and luggage has been cleared by the TSA and the plane is scheduled to take off shortly. All questions regarding the investigation should be directed to the TSA and Maryland Transportation Authority Police.

After returning to the gate, all passengers were briefly cleared from the plane. Transit authorities also removed three men and one woman from the plane for questioning, but the airline gave no further details.

A reporter from the local ACB7 station tweeted that the passengers who were questioned “appeared to be in early 30s and of middle eastern descent.”


The plane was eventually cleared and took off for Chicago.

 

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