Some airlines abandoned passengers.
AIRPORT:--- Police and other law enforcement officers are at the Princess Juliana International Airport conducting a security search after receiving information that there is Bomb on a Jet Blue aircraft that came from Boston. At the moment the runway closed and the road leading towards PJIAE. All flights that were scheduled to land from 3 pm onwards have been redirected to San Juan until the searches of all Jet Blue flights are searched and clearance is given to reopen the runway for landings. SMN News learned that police received a phone call informing them of the bomb on the Jet Blue flight.
After a thorough search of all Jet Blue aircraft's that were parked at PJIAE nothing was found and the airport runway was reopened by airport security and police. However, several passengers suffered because of yet another hoax. Several flights coming from the US territory had to be diverted to San Juan Puerto Rico and Air France to Guadeloupe.
American Airlines flight 2219 that was scheduled to land at 3:15 diverted to San Juan but chose to bring their passengers back to St. Maarten once clearance was given to them. Seaborne Airlines dropped off their passengers in San Juan and rebooked them to travel from Miami to Anguilla and the St. Maarten passengers have to find their way to St. Maarten by boat. SMN News learned that some passengers who had monies had to pay as much as $300.00 to get on the flight to Anguilla on Saturday afternoon.
Another airline that did not show compassion was WINAIR who left one passenger stranded at PJIAE. The passenger told SMN News that she was on her way to the Airport when police closed off the road, she said when she got to the Airport WINAIR agents told her the flight was closed and they were unable to do anything for her since they were not responsible for the bomb threat and how passengers were affected. The female passenger said that her flight was still on the runway and as much as she pleaded with the agents they refused to offer her any assistance. The only thing the airline did she said was rebooked her for the first flight on Sunday morning at no cost.
SMN News called the CEO of WINAIR Michael Cleaver and asked him what sort of customer service his staff was offering to passengers, the island's visitors when none of the parties was responsible for the hoax and delay. Cleaver who was extremely upset because he felt he was scolded by SMN News reporter who was at PJIAE when the runway was closed off. Cleaver said WINAIR was not responsible for the delay and they had a certain time to reach other destinations before the airports at those destinations closed. He said the situation on Saturday after caused some chaos and created a hectic situation for his staff. Cleaver also maintained that WINAIR would not assist the passenger and that they only thing they did without charging her was rebook her flight at no cost.
In a statement from PJAIE, they said Just after 2 pm today (Saturday), the Central Dispatch in Philipsburg received notice of a bomb threat on a JetBlue flight, according to Police Spokesman Ricardo Hanson.
Emergency personnel was immediately dispatched to the airport, where the local authorities, who were leading the search and investigation, were assisted by representatives of PJIAE.
In the interest of the safety and security of all involved, the aircraft was isolated at the eastern part of the airport near the Causeway roundabout.
Onboard searches of the aircraft were conducted by the local search team and completed a few minutes ago. The aircraft has since been released by the authorities and activities at SXM Airport have resumed normal operation
