User blog comment:Pawn of Atlas/Important Discussion for Rapture Storyline page/@comment-46.7.95.98-20140329130923/@comment-4959479-20140329131957

He doesn't give the order, he says "All we have to do is get that genetic freak on an airplane and Rapture's ours"

Communication to the surface isn't easy in Rapture. Also they'd have to find a plane passing over the right patch of ocean so that could have restricted their timeframe (Plane rides weren't as frequent in that time period)