US airlines cancel flights to Brussels; McCarran security remains at high level
U.S. airlines including Delta, United and American canceled flights on Tuesday after two deadly blasts in a packed departure area of the Brussels Airport at Zaventem.
A suicide bomber blew himself up in one of the Tuesday morning airport explosions, which killed 10 people. Another 20 were killed when a blast tore through a rush-hour metro train in the European capital shortly afterward. More than 200 people were injured in the blasts.
While there were no credible threats to U.S. airports or transportation hubs, police presence was beefed up as a precaution in the nation’s major cities, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles.
Delta Air Lines Inc said its flight DL42 from New York to Brussels was diverted to Amsterdam. Another flight, DL80 from Atlanta, had landed safely at the Zaventem airport and was parked remotely while the airline’s local staff helped passengers exit safely.
At McCarran International Airport, security remained at the same high level it has been at for months.
“Operationally, there are no changes here,” said McCarran spokeswoman Christine Crews. “And that’s because security is always our top priority. We will continue to treat it with the high level of importance we have observed for several months.”
Crews said canine units and the presence of Metro police are routine at Las Vegas’ airport and they’re “trained to be vigilant.”
McCarran has no nonstop flights to Brussels and there is no additional security at the airport’s ticket counters.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson issued a statement Tuesday morning saying there is no specific credible intelligence of any plot to conduct similar attacks in the United States.
He added that as a precautionary measure, the Transportation Security Administration is deploying additional security to major city airports in the United States, but he didn’t specify which airports and whether McCarran would be one of them.
McCarran officials also boosted Metro’s “If you see something, say something” policy on suspicious activities on its social media outlets.
United Airlines, which had two flights due in Brussels on Tuesday morning, said both landed there safely.
The company said it was suspending all remaining flights to and from Brussels.
American Airlines Group Inc. said it had canceled flight 751 from Brussels to Philadelphia and would accommodate its passengers when the airport reopens.
The explosions did not occur where American’s check-in operates, the company said, so all of its airport employees are safe and accounted for.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts said all of its hotels in Brussels were on lockdown, along with the rest of the city.
Facebook said it had activated its “safety check” feature, which allows its users to check on friends who were in the area of the blasts.
Review-Journal writer Richard N. Velotta contributed to this report.
