Calls for Washington airport to remain closed as others reopen

11.30 am

Most major airports around the United States are open to scheduled traffic again after being closed on Tuesday in response to attacks using hijacked airliners that hit the Pentagon in Washington DC and toppled the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center.

But there is debate over whether Washington's Ronald Regan National Airport ought to re-open, given its proximity to potential terrorist targets in the capital.

Boston's Logan International Airport will open for commercial passenger flights at 9 pm today (NZ time), four days after two flights from there were hijacked and smashed into the World Trade Center.

Security at the airport will be tighter than mandated by federal law, said Tom Kinton, director of the Massachusetts transportation authority MassPort.

"Logan Airport, because of the activity that occurred here and the awful tragedy that occurred on the 11th of September, has taken action and steps over and above those mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure... that this airport will be safe for the flying public," Kinton told reporters.

New federal regulations require armed guards to be placed on domestic flights; bar kerbside check-in; prohibit non-passengers from going through airport security barriers, and prohibit knives from being taken aboard.

In addition, state police and federal agents will be posted at security checkpoints throughout Logan airport; there will be random checks of carry-on luggage, identification and airline tickets; and canine patrols will make random sweeps of airport roadways, passenger, cargo and baggage areas.

MassPort, under the new FAA regulations, was forced to close one of its parking areas and lost 400 spaces in another lot, losing the revenue from those garages.

Kinton expected the reopening of one of the nation's busiest airports would be a "slow and methodical" process with only 30 to 40 per cent of its normal 1,400 daily flights operating on the first day.

The two other Massachusetts airports operated by MassPort, Worcester Airport and Hanscom Field in the town of Bedford, will also reopen at 9 pm.

Some Capitol Hill lawmakers insisted on Friday that Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport would eventually reopen, despite concerns about its proximity to key federal buildings in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

"To do otherwise would be to cave in to terrorists," said Gary Burns, a spokesman for Republican Rep. Dan Mica, of Florida, the chairman of the House aviation subcommittee.

Burns said there had been "legitimate concerns" raised about security of flights in and out of the airport. But Mica believes those concerns can be addressed with added security.

"We ought to in general keep the airports open and the airplanes flying," Burns said.

National airport remained closed on Friday due to concerns about its proximity to the buildings such as the Pentagon, which was struck by a hijacked airliner on Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said it had taken the decision in consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Reagan National's failure to reopen has raised again the question of whether its location poses a security risk to the White House and other sensitive buildings.

Some aviation experts have said the airport should be permanently closed to civilian traffic.

Located on the Potomac River, less than a mile from the Pentagon, Reagan National has flight paths that also take approaching and departing planes close to the White House, State Department and the Capitol.

In 1994, a single-engined Cessna stolen from an airfield north of Baltimore by a man described as mentally unstable slammed into the White House grounds in the early hours of the morning. Then President Clinton was safely asleep across the street at Blair House.

Reuters

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