A bomb threat closed Manchester-Boston Regional Airport late on Monday night but that had very little impact on its operations or of those at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease.

Multiple media reports said a call came into the Manchester airport just after 11 p.m. which led to an evacuation of the terminal and a sweep of the airport by K-9 teams. According to a message on the airport Twitter account, normal operations resumed around 1:30 a.m.

Two arriving Southwest and American flights were held on the tarmac, according to the media reports.

Manager of Airport Administration Chasen Congreves told Seacoast Current that Officials at Pease were notified of the threat although there were no active operations at the time.

"In the event that something is deemed credible we receive notification from our mutual stakeholders like the TSA, State Police and the state Bureau of Aeronautics if they need resources," Congreves said.

He said the threat was similar to a threat received via fax in January at Pease.

"It was a very blanket type of request for money with no specific location, random words and random places throughout the text that just didn't seem right that gave it a non-credible feel. But airports obviously always act on the cautious side," Congreves said.

Pease is gearing up for the anticipated increase in summer travel and just completed a runway rehabilitation project. They are working on upgrading their resources to attract new airlines, according to Congreves.

"We do believe there's an appetite for expanded service with newer airlines. We did a terminal expansion and added 12,000 extra feet with a new jet bridge to meet the needs of customers and make the airlines feel a little more comfortable coming here," Congreves said.

He said that the airport had 230,000 passengers in 2019 with an average of 170,000 passengers annually over the past five years.

When the weather gets warm in Florida, they have more inbound traffic than outbound traffic, Congreves said.

Allegiant is adding two direct routes from Pease: The inaugural flight to Nashville is scheduled for Thursday and on June 2 there will be a new flight to Tampa/St. Petersburg.

A spokesman for Manchester-Boston Regional Airport on Tuesday morning did not respond to Seacoast Current's request for more information.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH

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