Los Angeles airport terminal evacuated for two hours

A terminal of Los Angeles airport was evacuated for two hours after a man, an airline passenger, released a suspicious comment.

Photo: Los Angeles airport terminal evacuated for two hours

An official spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport said that the passenger and his luggage were searched after he disembarked from a flight from El Paso, Texas. Officers found no weapons or explosives.

More than 1,800 passengers had to spend two hours of waiting due to delayed flights. Operations returned to normal afterwards.

Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving Los Angeles, California, United States. It is often referred to by its airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually. LAX is located in southwestern Los Angeles in the neighborhood of Westchester. It is located 16 miles (27km) from the downtown core.

LAX handles more "origin and destination" (i.e. not connecting) passengers than any other airport in the world. It is the world's fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic and eleventh-busiest by cargo traffic, serving some 60 million passengers and more than two million tons of freight in 2004. It is the busiest airport in the state of California, and the third-busiest airport by passenger traffic in the United States based on final 2006 statistics. In terms of international passengers, LAX is the second-busiest in the U.S. (behind only JFK International Airport in New York City), and 20th worldwide. It is a major hub for United Airlines and a focus city for American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines.