An Air France flight from Paris was escorted by U.S. Air Force
fighter jets to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport,
one of 10 flights that received threats on Monday, an official
familiar with the matter said.
Air France Flight 22, which departed from Charles de Gaulle
Airport and was the target of a phone threat, landed safely at JFK
in New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. The fighter
jet escort was provided "out of an abundance of caution," the FBI
said.
The plane, its passengers and baggage were checked, authorities
said, and no threat has been discovered. "There were no incidents
or hazards reported on board the flight by either the passengers or
its crew. The plane has been cleared," the FBI statement said.
The two F-15's connected with the flight around 9 a.m., said
Navy Lieutenant Commander Richlyn Ivey, a spokeswoman for the U.S.
North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.
She said the jets guided the plane until landing and went back to
an undisclosed location close to the airport.
No other planes received the jet escort, she said.
The escort was ordered after a threat was made against the
aircraft to a Maryland State Police barrack, Ms. Ivey said.
The Maryland State Police said in a statement that a police
communications operator at the Maryland State Police McHenry
Barrack in Garret County fielded the threat around 6:30 a.m. Monday
and that the FBI and the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center
were notified immediately.
The official said that the threatened flights were mostly
international flights, and that most had landed by Monday
afternoon. The threats were deemed not credible, the official
said.
One of the threats was against American Airlines Flight 131,
arriving from Birmingham, England, said Kent Powell, a spokesman
for American Airlines. The pilot of the flight, which landed at JFK
at 12:11 p.m., was initially told to go to a secluded part of the
airport for an inspection.
But when the threat was deemed not credible, the plane was
cleared to go to the terminal, he said.
A spokeswoman for the FBI in Newark said two flights, a Delta
flight from Heathrow and a United flight from Madrid, we're both
checked out at Newark Airport Monday and cleared.
Write to William Horobin at William.Horobin@wsj.com
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