BA suspends Saudi flights

13 April 2012

BRITISH Airways has cancelled all flights to Saudi Arabia amid fears that groups linked to al Qaeda were planning a rocket attack on a British plane.

The possibility of cancelling scheduled flights to other destinations, especially in the Middle East, has not been ruled out.

The dramatic development came amid heightened tensions in Saudi Arabia where a terror cell of at least 10 militants is on the run after a shoot-out involving special forces and a helicopter gunship on Sunday in the capital Riyadh.

A separate report said suspects arrested by Saudi officials in a shootout on Tuesday were believed to have been plotting an attack against commercial aircraft at Riyadh's main airport.

Going on holiday? This Is Money is your one-stop holiday money shop. Order currency through us before 2pm for next-day delivery. Check the latest tourist rates, use our currency converters and buy holiday insurance online. Click here.

BA cancelled all flights to Riyadh and Jeddah, four to each destination every week, after a crisis meeting with Government officials. The flights were suspended indefinitely.

BA's safety and security director, Geoff Want, said: 'As a matter of precaution we have decided to suspend all flights to Saudi Arabia for the time being and we will continue to liaise closely with the British government.'

A Department for Transport spokesman said: 'There is credible intelligence of a serious threat to UK aviation interests in Saudi Arabia.'

Sources said there were fears that a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher could be used against a British plane.

The news came as a British arms dealer was appearing in court in America to face charges of planning to supply a sophisticated rocket that he claimed could have been used to take down Air Force One.

There are about 30,000 Britons in Saudi Arabia at any one time - most of them residents who are working there.

The Foreign Office said today: 'We shall be drawing the British Airways announcement to the attention of the British community in Saudi Arabia through the warden network we have out there.'

It did not intend to change its current advice about travel to Saudi Arabia. This already advises against all but essential travel to the Middle East country.

BA shares shrugged off the suspension, closing 2% higher at 172 1/4p. But Henk Potts, analyst at Barclays Private Clients, said the news highlighted the wider issues facing the company. 'They are not in control of their destiny,' he added. 'Every time something goes wrong in the world, British Airways always seems to face the brunt of it.'

BA had to cease flights to Nairobi in May after the UK Government ordered a ban on all UK airline flights to and from Kenya.

This followed a specific threat against UK planes in the region. The suspension of flights to Nairobi was lifted on 26 June. Earlier this year, BA suspended several Middle East flights because of the Iraqi war.

A spokeswoman for BA said it was too early to judge the financial implications of the Saudi suspension. 'We concentrate on the operations side when things like this happen,' she said. 'The impact is normally calculated a few days after and depends on how long it goes on for.'

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in