HEBRON — A few of the nation's airliners returned to the skies Thursday, after an unprecedented two-day shutdown.

        But the airlines struggled with much tighter security — including a ban on trucks and vans at the Terminal 3 garage here — and the logistical nightmare of restarting a system that is fragile on its best days.

        Although they were back in the air, commercial passenger jets couldn't carry mail or cargo. And private planes again generally weren't allow to fly.

Crowds line up for tickets at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Thursday. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        A key factor hampering the airlines was that flight crews and planes were scattered across the country, since planes were forced to land at the closest airport Tuesday morning. Calls for flight attendant crews to report to gates at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport were more common than departure announcements.

        The day's brightest spot at the airport here: Many of the roughly 1,200 people who had been stranded in the Tristate since Tuesday were able to advance on their journey, if not get all the way home.

        “I'm going to Atlanta, because I'll have a better shot at getting a flight across the pond that way,” said Alec Deacon, 54, of Sussex, England, who had been stranded in Cincinnati since Monday.

        “It's 50-50 whether I'll make it home any time soon,” said Mr. Deacon, who had been on his way home from visiting the Memphis and Mississippi homes of his idol, Elvis Presley. “At least I got to see Graceland.”

        Domestic airlines operated only a few hundred of the thousands of flights normally scheduled after the nation's airspace was reopened at 11 a.m. Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

        That included fewer than 50 flights to or from the Cincinnati airport — the nation's 16th busiest facility and Delta Air Lines' second-largest hub, which normally sees at least 600 departures a day. By 5 p.m., Comair — the locally based Delta commuter airline subsidiary — had operated 60 flights systemwide. Delta had flown about 270 systemwide by 9 p.m., although about half were made to reposition empty planes and crews.

        The Dayton International Airport also got off to a sluggish start.

        Dayton sees about 100 departures a day, but by 4 p.m., only one airplane carrying passengers had gone airborne: a 12:30 p.m. Comair flight bound for Cincinnati. New security procedures added special inconvenience in Dayton, where the only restrooms are now are off limits to all but ticketed passengers.

        The FAA closed the nation's airspace Tuesday morning following the hijackings and crashes of four commercial jet airliners.

        Airports and airlines each had to undergo rigorous safety inspections Wednesday and early Thursday before the FAA cleared them for commercial air traffic. About 60 percent, or more than 200, of the airports had been certified through Thursday evening, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

        Among the airports struggling: Boston's Logan International, which had not met the FAA's security requirements as of 5 p.m.

        Washington's Reagan National Airport, near many of the capital's landmarks, was closed indefinitely Thursday by local authorities.

        Cincinnati received its certification at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, airport spokesman Ted Bushelman said.

        Airport personnel were required to conduct extensive bomb sweeps — one car was towed locally after it was discovered its owner had a drug conviction — as well as barricading parking so as not to allow trucks or vans within 300 feet of the terminal.

        Cars parked that close in the garage next to Delta's Terminal 3 were inspected by officers and bomb-sniffing dogs.

        Passengers also met with tougher security checks, and even pocket knives and fingernail clippers were confiscated if they had not been stowed in checked baggage. Those without a ticket were not allowed past security points, and curbside check-ins were not allowed.

        “This inconvenience is trivial,” said Jeffrey Chaplin, a Toronto jeweler who made it to Cincinnati Thursday from Nashville, Tenn., on Comair, only to be told he'd have to wait at least another day before returning home to Canada. “At least I can get to a hotel and I'm not stuck in a gym on a cot somewhere.”

        “People should get to the airport 2-3 hours ahead of time to be ready” for the tougher security, said Mr. Bushelman. Neither he, nor the FAA's Ms. Bergen nor Delta spokeswoman Cindi Kurczewski would comment on what security improvements airlines and airports were required to make behind the scenes.

        “It's well worth it,” said Shawn Brunner of Minneapolis, who was trying to make it to New York with his girlfriend Thursday, even if they wouldn't be able to make their first originally planned stop — the top of the World Trade Center at night. “If it stops what happened from happening again, I'll put up with it no matter what.”

       Janice Morse, Ben L. Kaufman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
       
       

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