BA cancels flights over security fears

updated 8:05 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2004

LONDON - A much-disrupted British Airways flight to Washington, D.C. has been canceled again over security fears, the airline said Thursday.

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

The airline said the decision "follows government advice to cancel those flights for security reasons."

Flight 223 has been delayed or canceled eight times this year because of U.S. security alerts. Saudi flights also have been canceled several times.

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

Disruption to flight 223 began Dec. 31, when the plane was kept on the tarmac at Dulles for several hours after landing, while U.S. authorities questioned passengers and crew. BA scratched the same service the following two days and several times after that, most recently on Feb 2.

The carrier's two other daily flights to Washington have not been affected.

Several Paris-based Air France flights to the United States and a Continental Airlines Glasgow-to-Los Angeles flight also have been canceled in the past few weeks.

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