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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Under Attack: Second Busiest Airport in World Practically Vacant

Aired September 13, 2001 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn it now to Bonnie Anderson who is at Hartsfield Airport, the second busiest airport in the world, Atlanta, Georgia.

Bonnie, what's the scene there?

BONNIE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, as you know, on any given day, on any normal day, at this time in the morning, Hartsfield would be a bustling hub of activity, not so today. I can show you that there's tape across the doors, there very little activity here, very little movement, very few employees. And there is still no word from officials here on when the airport will reopen, whether they'll go along with the 11:00 a.m. timeline.

Delta, which is headquartered here, says later today, they will decide when to resume their flights.

We can show you some live pictures now of planes on the tarmac. They have been there since Tuesday.

Meanwhile officials here are implementing new security measures mandated by the FAA. I can tell you that on Tuesday, police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs combed every inch -- they said, every inch of this airport. Additional federal marshals, customs and border patrol agents assigned to Hartsfield should be arriving today, we are told, as they have been dispatched to major airports across the nation. This is certainly a major airport. There has been a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) battle with O'Hare International over the bragging rights to the world's -- to the title for world's busiest airport.

Now, Atlanta police department say they have also permanently assigned additional officers to this airport, although Hartsfield already has a very sophisticated -- what they call -- multi-layered security system. Most of this was put in place prior to the '96 Olympics held here in Atlanta. Additionally, last year some very high-tech electronic scanning devices were installed in the concourses.

As for stranded passengers, well, the number is undisclosed. Some of them were stranded as they were coming through Atlanta -- major hub, in the midst of changing planes. Others were stranded when their flights, aimed for another destination, were stopped here.

So those passengers, along with employees, are waiting word as to when flights will resume here at Hartsfield.

I am Bonnie Anderson, CNN, reporting live from Atlanta.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you very much, Bonnie.

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