Posted on 02/12/2004 7:13:55 PM PST by FairOpinion
Concerns about terrorism have led British Airways to cancel two upcoming international flights, one of them bound for the United States. Cancelations are the latest in a series of threats to airline security. British Airways has canceled this Sunday's flight 223 from London's Heathrow Airport to Washington's Dulles, as well as Monday's flight 263 to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia because of concerns about security. Airline spokesman John Lampl offered no details about the nature of the threats.
"Based on the information given to us by the British government this morning, we've taken that decision to cancel the flight on Sunday," he said.
It was the fifth time that BA flight 223 has been canceled this year because of fears of terrorism. During the Christmas and New Year's holidays, British Airways and Air France cancelled more than a dozen trans-Atlantic flights after U.S. authorities passed on what they called credible information the flights could be targeted by al-Qaida terrorists in September 11 style attacks.
In Washington Thursday, Attorney General John Ashcroft would not comment on whether those threats have resurfaced, characterizing the move as a precaution.
"We know that al-Qaida continues to be interested in airplanes and using them as destructive weapons," he said.
Cancellations of British Airways flight 223 have become so frequent that the airline is now reported to be considering changing the flight number.
There is also a more detailed artilce from CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/02/12/flight.223.ap/
"Security experts, however, say the jitters are well-founded.
"We know that al Qaeda is particularly interested in attacking civil aviation," said Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University in Scotland.
"The Americans and other countries in the coalition against terrorism are understandably taking that problem very seriously."
"In addition to suicide hijacking, there are other ways in which al Qaeda can attack," Wilkinson said, mentioning the attempt by shoe-bomber Richard Reid to set off explosives on a trans-Atlantic flight in December 2001.
"There have been fears that terrorists might use some kind of poisonous gas on board an aircraft, or surface-to-air missiles. These are not imaginary apprehensions," Wilkinson said.
In November 2002, two missiles narrowly missed an Israeli charter airliner taking off from the airport in Mombasa, Kenya. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attempt. "
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