Dozens of Penn faculty members -- primarily doctors in the University's Health System -- have had to put their plans on hold due to travel disruptions in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
While most of the nation's transportation networks returned to normal operations yesterday, the most vital component of interstate travel -- commercial airlines -- remained shut down.
That left members of two of Penn's medical departments stranded in Denver and Salt Lake City.
According to Rebecca Harmon, spokeswoman for the Health System, those departments have been forced to cope without some of their key specialists.
"Until those specialists return, other physicians in those departments have volunteered to handle patient needs as necessary," Harmon said.
"We just have to fill in," Surgery Chairman Larry Kaiser added.
According to Kaiser, Surgery Professor John Kucharczuk and Joe Woo, a third-year fellow, had been in Salt Lake City for a thoracic surgery board review course.
"They were there since Saturday and they were due to get back [on Tuesday]," Kaiser said. "As it turns out, they won't be back until at least [tomorrow] afternoon."
But as the Department of Transportation sees it, Kaiser's estimation may be overly optimistic.
Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta "announced that the Federal Aviation Administration is temporarily extending the ground stop order imposed [Tuesday] while additional security measures are being completed," according to a department statement.
And an FAA directive that permitted all diverted flights from Tuesday to continue on to their original destinations yesterday did not affect Kucharczuk and Woo, who had not taken off from Salt Lake City when the events in New York City and Washington transpired.
In fact, despite the FAA's allowance, airports nationwide had yet to open last night due to the restrictive nature of the new security guidelines the FAA has mandated.
"We still have to meet [the new] security regulations," US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said. "Right now, we're assessing the capability of bringing those diverted flights [in Canada] back home."
Castelveter echoed the leadership of many of the nation's airports and airlines, highlighting the plight of air travelers nationwide.
"We're still shut down, but we hope to be in compliance with FAA regulations later this evening," said Mark Pesce, spokesman for Philadelphia International Airport.
Of the 123 aircraft currently grounded at the airport, Pesce said that some could be cleared to fly "sometime tomorrow."
In Philadelphia, five participants in a biotechnology conference sponsored by Penn's Center for Bioethics remained stuck in the city's hotels, waiting for any indication as to when flights would resume.
"We've got one from Nebraska, one from St. Louis, one from Scotland, one from Seattle and one from Boston," David Magnus, a professor of bioethics at Penn and co-coordinator of the meeting, said.
Of the 15 original participants, most were from New York and Washington, according to Magnus.
"Most of those folks were able to get home today," Magnus said.
But for those that were not, Magnus arranged lodging.
"The minute this happened, we arranged for hotels," Magnus said.
Magnus also found himself in a lurch in regard to his own travel arrangements.
"I'm supposed to be in Florida doing a debate tonight, and that's not going to happen," Magnus said.
But for other passengers not dependent on air travel in the Philadelphia area, there were other ways to get to their destinations.
The vital Amtrak rail link between Washington and New York was operational, albeit on a limited schedule.
And in the Philadelphia area, commuter lines, both rail and bus, were fully operational.
"We don't have any figures as to how many people were left stranded [in the city], but regular service returned around 2 p.m. [on Tuesday]," said Felipe Suarez, a SEPTA spokesman. "We haven't had any problems since service [began] running regularly."
At one point on Tuesday, Amtrak's 30th Street Station was closed and all rail lines west of the station were shut down. Amtrak resumed operations late Tuesday night.
Consequently, SEPTA's regional rail operations west of 30th Street -- the transportation cooperative also runs the city's bus lines and subways --ground to a halt for three hours on Tuesday.
But of the roughly 400,000 people SEPTA serves each day in the Philadelphia area, "the only people who seem to be affected were those who use our regional rail," according to Suarez.
Greyhound, which halted operations out of Philadelphia and other major cities on Tuesday, also resumed operations late Tuesday and was running its buses at a close-to-normal schedule yesterday.
"We are up and running," Greyhound spokeswoman Kristin Parsley said. "The only location that we have closed at this point is our New York City Port Authority location."
The Port Authority, which has jurisdiction over transportation through New York, had offices in the World Trade Center.
"We can only provide service to Newark," Parsley said, referring to passengers unsure of when service might resume to Manhattan.
"The trains are running," Parsley said. "That's the only way people can get into New York City."
