Kansas City International Airport reopens after brief closure due to unspecified threat

Kansas City International Airport reopened on Sunday afternoon after a brief closure as authorities investigated a possible threat, the airport and federal government said.

The threat prompted some airplanes to evacuate passengers on the airport tarmac and disrupted flights for thousands after the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights during the investigation.

"The security incident at @Fly_KansasCity is now clear and normal operations are resuming," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a post on X. 

FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the "threat was reviewed and determined not to be credible. Terminal has been swept, cleared, and normal operations resumed."

The Kansas City Aviation Department said earlier it evacuated sections of the airport in Kansas City, Missouri, due to a potential threat. It said the evacuation was initiated at around 11:15 a.m. local time and that airport police worked with the FBI to investigate.