BA cancels flights over security fears
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-13 09:22

A much-disrupted British Airways (BA) flight from London to Washington D.C. has been cancelled again over security fears, the airline said Thursday.

BA says flight 223 from Heathrow to Washington's Dulles Airport will not fly on Sunday. Monday's Flight 263 from London to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia also waes scrapped.

The airline said the decision "follows government advice to cancel those flights for security reasons." The 184 people booked on the Washington flight and 149 Riyadh passengers would be rebooked on other flights or given a refund, the airline said.

BA said the return flights to London would operate as scheduled.

Flight 223 has been delayed or cancelled eight previous times this year because of US security alerts. Saudi flights also have been cancelled several times.

Officials in Britain have refused to say what intelligence prompted them to advise cancellation of the BA flights, but US authorities have spoken of a "specific and credible" terrorist threat to international flights.

Disruption to flight 223 began on December 31, when the plane was kept on the tarmac at Dulles for several hours after landing, while US authorities questioned passengers and crew.

BA scratched the same service the following two days and several times after that, most recently on February 2. When the flight has gone ahead, it has sometimes been delayed for hours for stringent checks on passengers. The carrier's two other daily flights to Washington have not been affected.

Last August, BA also once suspended service to Saudi Arabia.

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