Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, January 04, 2004
British Airways resumes afternoon-flight to Washington
British Airways decided Saturday to resume its normal afternoon flight to Washington D.C. after a two-flight suspension on Thursday and Friday due to security reasons.
British Airways decided on January 3 to resume its normal afternoon flight to Washington D.C. after a two-flight suspension on Thursday and Friday due to security reasons.
An airline spokeswoman said Flight BA223 from Heathrow to Washington's Dulles airport would take off as scheduled as the government said it was safe now to resume the flight.
"The Department for Transport has confirmed to us that they are satisfied that it is safe for the aircraft to go," she said.
Meanwhile, an unnamed security official was quoted by BBC radio on January 3 as saying: "An individual who is on a US list of terrorist suspects was trying to get on BA flight 223 to Washington when it was canceled on Thursday."
There was a "real and definite threat" of a Sept. 11-style attack on the US capital, reports said.
The company, however, announced that it was grounding its Saturday afternoon flight to the Saudi capital Riyadh, which it had also canceled on Wednesday, due to further security concerns.