BA and Air France face terror threat
US officials claim new intelligence shows British Airways and Air France flights to the US could be terrorist targets. It is feared al-Qaeda may attempt to hijack a plane from either London or Paris and fly it into a target in the United States.
US intelligence agencies reported receiving a “specific and credible threat” in the last couple of days. The US Department for Homeland Security said no flights had been changed at present, and there were no plans to raise the current alert level.
US officials are talking to British and French authorities about the next steps.
“We remain concerned about al-Qaeda’s desire to target aviation, especially international aviation,” said Brian Roehrkasse of the Homeland Security department.
“The US intelligence community continues to gather specific credible threat information on international flights, as we have done in an ongoing basis in the past few weeks. We have shared this information with our international partners, and will work with them to put in place the appropriate security measures”.
The intelligence is said to specifically mention British Airways 223 from London to Washington DC. Two such flights were cancelled and others delayed in early January amid heightened attack fears. Six Air France flights to Los Angeles were also cancelled in December.
Air France spokeswoman Diana Cornman, in New York, said there was good cooperation between the airline and US and French government officials over the latest intelligence.
“We have been complying with all security measures,” she said.
