U.S. Jets Escort Air France Flight Into JFK After Phone Threat

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 [e-mail]

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