Halifax, Part 4

The Day Halifax Helped

It was a day where time had no meaning.

Staff at the Halifax airport were already busy on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, preparing for the impending arrival of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. RCMP officers were conducting their usual threat assessment when chaos descended.

Art Ives was the airport duty manager that day. He was just digesting the news coverage of a plane smashing into the World Trade Center when he got the call telling him that 40 to 50 aircraft would be on his doorstep starting in a half-hour because of the no-fly zone.

The first flight arrived at 11:30 a.m. and the last touched down at 1:30 p.m. All told, approximately 45 airplanes carrying a total of 7,300 passengers made unexpected stops in Halifax, some staying for as long as five days.

The apron wouldn’t hold all those massive international flights, so Ives directed them to be parked on the runway. Then there was the matter of getting all the passengers off the planes. It took some time before permission was granted by several agencies, and then passengers were only allowed to take their carry-on baggage, which was sniffed out by dogs.

Offloading started at 3:30 p.m. and the last passenger was cleared at 4 a.m. “They were quiet and very co-operative. They were in shock, too,” Ives said.

Herringbone pattern

The Halifax airport didn't know how many flights to expect, perhaps up to 100, which was the approximate number of planes in the air over Eastern and Atlantic Canada, and the North Atlantic Ocean.

But how do you fit that many jumbo jets on a runway? Especially if you have only 15 or 20 minutes to come up with a plan?

"We figured that if we put them in what's like a herringbone pattern, kind of wing tip to wing tip, that we could fit literally 50 per cent more aircraft in the same space," said Wayne d'Entremont, an airport worker.

"We just started parking them. They came one right after the other. The term I've used in the past is 'It's raining aluminum.' "

The runway became a highly co-ordinated parking lot for jumbo jets, while inside the airport, staff and members of the volunteer Tartan Team that helps welcome people were marshalling whatever resources they could.

Working around the clock

The arrival of the planes was only the beginning, however, of the unprecedented experience in Halifax and the other airport communities across Canada on 9/11 and the days that followed.

"What really amazed a lot of people was the fact that when these people did come off (the planes), they were grateful, thankful. There was no animosity, there was no anger. It was just an eerie, eerie, calm," he recalls.

The “plane people” were not allowed to take any personal items with them except for purses, wallets, and identification. So after a few days, underwear, soap, shampoo and medicines were very much in demand. 

Service clubs, local residents and others welcomed the unexpected guests into Halifax and nearby communities and brought carton after carton of  toothpaste toothbrushes deodorant, shavers, and other necessities to the stranded passengers.

For 24 hours, volunteers worked around the clock. Then they realized the situation was going to go on for a few days. Shift schedules were set up.

Unprecedented logistical challenges

Scores of residents volunteered to work with Halifax municipal staff to care for the newcomers. Under the direction of the Emergency Management Organization, shelters were established around the community and food supplies and medical care was arranged.

Sandwiches, snacks, water, fruit,  juice, baby food and diapers were gathered up, too, so there was something for passengers to eat once they finally left their planes.

The phone company brought cell phones for people to make calls, and airport payphones were enabled to be used for free.

In addition, many Halifax residents opened their homes to the passengers and made them feel part of the family during their enforced stay which, in some cases, stretched to several weeks.

Lasting friendships were forged during those difficult days. Members of the local business community came forward with a steady supply of food, clothing and other necessities for the passengers. 

“It was a magnificent effort by everyone,” said the mayor of Halifax. “In those dark days faced by the world, the residents of Halifax played a major role in keeping the lights of humanity burning.”

Footnote:  Operation Yellow Ribbon was commenced by Transport Canada to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001. Canada's goal was to ensure that potentially destructive air traffic be removed from U.S. airspace as quickly as possible, and away from potential U.S. targets, and instead place these aircraft on the ground in Canada, mostly at military and civilian airports in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and British Columbia where their destructive potential could be better contained and neutralized. As none of the aircraft proved to be a threat, Canada and Canadians subsequently undertook to play host to the many people aboard the aircraft during the ensuing delay in reaching their destinations.

Canada commenced the operation after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all aircraft across the United States. The FAA then worked with Transport Canada to reroute incoming international flights to airports in Canada. 


During the operation, departing flights, with the exception of police, military, and humanitarian flights were cancelled, marking the first time that Canada shut down its airspace. As a result of Operation Yellow Ribbon, 255 aircraft were diverted to 17 different airports across the country.  Halifax received around 45 planes, the most of any Canadian airport.