ORLANDO, Fla. — Few flight delays were reported Wednesday morning at Orlando International Airport, hours after the end of a standoff at a rental car area on the airport's ground floor.
Terminal A was evacuated shortly before 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after police received a report of an armed man.
Police said Michael Wayne Pettigrew, 26, pointed what appeared to be a real gun at himself and at officers during the standoff. It was later determined to be a replica.
Photos: Standoff at Orlando International Airport
Ryan Obenreder said he was running late Tuesday night when he was dropping off his sister at the airport. He told Channel 9 that he was grateful they were behind schedule.
"We feel lucky," Obenreder said. "They were a little bit late, so we were kind of rushing (to get) here. So they would have been in terminal A if we got here on time."
Investigators said crisis negotiators convinced Pettigrew to peacefully surrender at about 10 p.m. Terminal A reopened a short time later.
A JetBlue representative said the company experienced some delayed flights because of the incident and because of weather. The airline said it is in the process of rebooking passengers.
“There were some inconveniences to passengers but the key was that we were able to continue operating,” said OIA spokesperson Carolyn Fennell.
A man who asked not to be identified saw Tuesday night's commotion and said he was cautious about returning to the airport on Wednesday.
"We watched 14 police cars pass us the other way just after 8 in the evening," he said. "So we got home and right away checked the news and saw that there was an incident at the airport."
Incident with man at #OIA is over. @MCO urging passengers to contact their airlines regarding flight changes @WFTV pic.twitter.com/CIyLoxTo6x
— Roy Ramos (@RramosTV) May 31, 2017
Despite some delays for travelers during the standoff, operations continued at the B terminal.
Airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell credited recent training for such situations.
"The key to the incident going successful was the ability to contain the area to isolate the incident," she said. "The key to an incident is the ability to plan based on the training that you have had, and certainly to communicate, and that occurred."
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