Military jets escorted a commercial flight into New York City Monday after telephone threats against four airlines later found to be false.
After an anonymous caller claimed a chemical weapon was aboard the Air France flight, two F-15s guided the plane to the John F. Kennedy International Airport as a precautionary measure, the FBI said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Air France flight number 22 was escorted to John F. Kennedy airport by U.S. Air Force fighter jets following a phone threat,” the FBI said. “There were no incidents or hazards reported on board the flight by either the passengers or its crew. The plane has been cleared.”
Three other flights during the busy Memorial Day holiday also received threats, which authorities discredited after searching them. One Saudi Arabian Airlines flight arriving at JFK was checked out, and passengers were removed from a United Airlines flight after it arrived in Madrid.
One of the threats was made against an American Airlines jet flying from England to New York while it was still in the air. Authorities initially told the pilot to land and taxi to a remote area away from the airport, but later cleared the plane to land at the terminal.
