The terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, completely disrupted civil aviation across North America within a matter of hours. After hijacked aircraft struck the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered the closure of American airspace and the grounding of all aircraft already flying over the continental United States. Within just a few hours, air traffic controllers managed to safely direct and land more than 4,500 aircraft at airports across the country.

International flights already en route to the United States posed a particular challenge, especially those from Europe that were already over the Atlantic. Returning to their departure airports was no longer practical in many cases, while continuing to the United States was prohibited. As a result, a large number of aircraft were diverted to Canada, where Operation Yellow Ribbon was launched to accommodate international flights that could no longer enter U.S. airspace.

Between approximately 225 and 240 international flights ultimately landed at Canadian airports. Halifax, Vancouver and several other major airports handled significant numbers, but the story of the relatively small town of Gander in Newfoundland became the best-known chapter of the entire operation. A total of 38 aircraft carrying approximately 6,600 to 6,700 passengers and crew were diverted to Gander International Airport. For a town with a population of around 10,000 at the time, this meant that the number of people in the area increased by more than half almost overnight.

Gander was not chosen by chance as one of the principal destinations for diverted transatlantic flights. The airport had infrastructure far larger than might be expected for a community of its size, largely because of its aviation history.

Before the arrival of modern long-range airliners, Gander was one of the most important locations in transatlantic aviation. Its position in Newfoundland, on the eastern edge of North America, made it a natural technical stop and refuelling point. Aircraft that could not yet fly nonstop between Europe and much of North America frequently landed there before continuing to New York, Montreal, Chicago and other cities. This role earned Gander the nickname “Crossroads of the World.”

As longer-range aircraft entered service, Gander’s importance in scheduled passenger traffic gradually declined. Its long runways and extensive apron areas, however, remained. On September 11, 2001, that infrastructure allowed the airport to accommodate a large number of heavy widebody aircraft within a very short period.

Among the aircraft that ended up in Gander were Boeing 747s and 777s, Airbus A330s and A340s, and other aircraft operating primarily from Europe to destinations in the United States. Airlines represented included American Airlines, British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, Olympic Airways and Malév, along with several military aircraft.

The first challenge was simply coordinating the arrival of so many aircraft and finding space for them on the ground. Passengers could not immediately leave their aircraft after landing. Canadian security and border authorities had to process each flight, its documentation, passengers and the circumstances surrounding its diversion. Some passengers therefore remained aboard their aircraft for hours, often with little information about how long the situation would last.

Once passengers began disembarking, an even larger logistical problem emerged. Gander and the surrounding communities did not have anything close to the hotel capacity required for several thousand people who suddenly had nowhere else to go. Local authorities and residents therefore began using virtually every suitable public facility available.

Schools, churches, community centres, sports halls and other public buildings were converted into temporary accommodation. Residents brought mattresses, pillows, bedding, towels and sleeping bags from their homes. Kitchens and dining areas were established in some facilities, while the local hockey arena was transformed into a large warehouse for food and other supplies.

Many residents of Gander and neighbouring communities also opened their own homes to complete strangers. Passengers were offered showers, laundry facilities, telephones and internet access and, in some cases, even the use of private cars. Prescription medication became a particular issue because many passengers had never expected to remain away from home for several additional days. Local doctors and pharmacies worked to provide necessary medication, while volunteers collected basic toiletries and clothing.

Local bus drivers also played an important role. Some were involved in a labour dispute and strike at the time of the attacks, but returned to work to transport passengers from the airport to schools, churches and other temporary accommodation facilities. Without the buses, moving several thousand people from the airport into Gander and neighbouring communities would have been considerably more difficult.

Teachers, cooks, police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, scouts and large numbers of other volunteers became involved. The basic approach was straightforward: use whatever resources were available and distribute people wherever suitable space could be found.

The stranded travellers soon became known among local residents as the “plane people.” At the same time, the traditional Newfoundland expression “come from away,” used for someone who comes from outside the region, became closely associated with the events. It would later provide the title for the best-known artistic work based on the Gander story.

The response was not limited to people. Animals were travelling in the cargo holds of some of the diverted aircraft. Accounts of the events commonly state that 19 animals required care. Local volunteers and animal welfare workers took responsibility for them, including feeding, watering and regularly checking on animals that, like their human fellow travellers, were unable to continue their journeys for several days.

They were not all household pets. Some aircraft were transporting animals destined for zoos, including two chimpanzees, adding another unusual logistical requirement to an already exceptional situation at the airport.

Among the nearly 7,000 people who found themselves in Gander were several individuals whose experiences would later become particularly well known.

One of them was Beverley Bass, the first female captain at American Airlines. On September 11, she was commanding a Boeing 777 operating from Paris to Dallas/Fort Worth. When U.S. airspace was closed, her flight was diverted to Gander. Her career and her experience during those days would later become one of the central elements of the musical Come From Away.

Another passenger was Kevin Tuerff, a Texas businessman. His experience in Gander later inspired him to establish Pay It Forward 9/11, an initiative encouraging people to perform an act of kindness for a stranger every September 11.

Werner Baldessarini, then one of the leading figures at Hugo Boss, was also among those stranded in Gander. According to later accounts, he was offered an opportunity to leave earlier through his business connections but chose to remain with the other passengers and continue his journey only when the rest of the group was able to depart.

At one point, a rumour spread through the town that German tennis star Steffi Graf was among the passengers. Graf herself was not there, but her mother and sister had been diverted to Gander. Several other prominent business figures and relatives of public figures were also among the stranded travellers.

Another story involved Elaine Louie, the wife of actor Woody Harrelson, who was stranded in Gander with their two daughters. She later spoke about how surprised she had been by the level of trust and openness shown by local residents toward people they had never met before.

John Tague, a businessman who would later become a senior executive at United Airlines and CEO of Hertz Global Holdings, was also among those diverted to Gander. Like many other passengers, he was accommodated in one of the improvised shelters.

For most travellers, the stay lasted several days. As parts of U.S. airspace reopened and new security procedures were introduced, aircraft gradually received permission to continue their journeys. The first began departing on September 13, while the final diverted flights left Gander several days later.

The connections formed during those days did not disappear once the aircraft departed. Many passengers remained in contact with the people who had hosted them, while individuals and groups regularly returned to Newfoundland. Reunions and anniversary events were organised, and some of the relationships developed into long-lasting friendships.

One of the best-known examples involved passengers from Delta Air Lines Flight 15. During their eventual onward journey, they began discussing how they could thank the people who had accommodated and fed them without asking for payment. The result was a scholarship fund for young people from Gander, Lewisporte and the surrounding area, which went on to raise millions of dollars over the following years.

Over time, the events moved beyond a local and aviation story and became part of the broader cultural memory of September 11. The best-known result is the musical Come From Away, written by Canadian authors Irene Sankoff and David Hein.

The writers collected extensive testimony from Gander residents, passengers and crew members and used those accounts to create a production featuring characters based on real people. Rather than focusing primarily on the attacks themselves, the musical centres on what happened after the closure of U.S. airspace and on the daily lives of several thousand people who unexpectedly found themselves stranded in Newfoundland.

One of the real people prominently represented in the production is Beverley Bass. Her aviation career and her experience as a woman entering a profession that had historically been overwhelmingly male are explored in “Me and the Sky,” one of the musical’s best-known songs.

Come From Away was first performed in 2013 and subsequently went through several theatre productions in North America. It reached Broadway in 2017, where it became one of the more successful musicals of the period and was performed more than 1,600 times. Productions later opened in London, Australia and elsewhere around the world.

The musical introduced the Gander story to a much wider audience, including many people who had previously known little about Operation Yellow Ribbon or the town’s role following the September 11 attacks.

Twenty years after the events, on September 11, 2021, the Compassion Monument was dedicated in Gander. The monument incorporates a steel beam from the World Trade Center, donated to the people of Gander and the surrounding area by the Bethpage Fire Department in New York.

Its plaque records that 38 aircraft carrying more than 6,500 people from 95 countries arrived in Gander following the closure of North American airspace. It also notes that the town’s population temporarily increased by around 70 percent and that the stranded passengers were provided with accommodation, food and other essential support during the following six days.

The events in Gander are now among the best-known episodes in civil aviation history associated with September 11. The operation also demonstrated how an airport whose importance in scheduled passenger traffic had declined significantly over the preceding decades could once again become strategically important under exceptional circumstances. Equally notable was the scale of the logistical operation: a town of around 10,000 residents had only a matter of hours to organise transportation, accommodation, food, medical assistance and communications for nearly 7,000 additional people, without having previously planned or trained for an event of that scale.

The combination of aviation history, an unprecedented diversion operation and the story’s later cultural impact has ensured that Gander became far more than a footnote to the events of September 11. Its role is now documented through the history of Operation Yellow Ribbon, accounts from passengers and residents, scholarship programmes, anniversary gatherings, a monument incorporating part of the World Trade Center and Come From Away, the musical that brought the events in a small Newfoundland town to theatre audiences around the world.