Flights to US grounded over security

British Airways and Air France said yesterday they had cancelled five flights to the United States amid fears of a possible September 11-style attack.

A US official said Washington had intelligence that the Al-Qaeda network, which carried out the 2001 hijacked plane attacks, may be targeting five or six US-bound flights from Europe.

"There are a handful of flights we are concerned about and British Airways has cancelled about half of them," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We have received threat-reporting that indicates Al-Qaeda's desire to target these particular flights."

The cancelled BA flights are BA 223 from London to Washington today and tomorrow, and BA 207 to Miami today.

"We cancelled these flights on advice from the UK government for security reasons," a spokeswoman for the airline said, without giving details.

Air France said it had cancelled two flights from Paris to Washington.

Intelligence information triggering fears of a new September 11-style attack led to the cancellation of several international flights over the Christmas and New Year period.

BA's flight 223 to Washington had been the subject of particular concern in early January, when it was cancelled several times because of security fears and then delayed for hours several more times.

BA flights to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and flights to the United States from France and Mexico were also grounded.

Yesterday's cancellations came after Britain warned travellers they faced years of security alerts amid Western intelligence fears of plots by Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.

"There's been a lot of strategic intelligence pointing to an interest in using an aeroplane in an attack," Kevin Rosser, an analyst with Control Risks Group, told Reuters.

A British Department of Transport spokesman gave little clue as to what lay behind yesterday's decision, but confirmed it was made in the "light of information received".

The cancellations came as a debate continued over whether armed sky marshals should travel on passenger flights thought to be potentially at risk.

Along with other European airlines, British Airways has vowed to cancel flights rather than comply with US demands to carry armed air marshals on some US-bound planes.

Adding to the jitters was a scare on a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York that had to be turned back on yesterday when a burning smell was detected in the cabin.

The British airline said it had probably been due to a technical fault. The plane returned safely to Heathrow.