On Thursday a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to London was intercepted UK fighter jets and diverted from landing at Heathrow Airport where it was earlier scheduled to land.
The flight, dubbed KQ100 Flight, instead was directed to land at the Stansted Airport in London.
According to a report that appeared in the BBC, the UK’s Essex Police confirmed that Stansted was the designated airport for dealing with security risks in the Unites Kingdom.
According to Kenya Airways chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka, a security threat had been raised in the plane over some of the passengers on board.
“There was suspicion of some of the people on board. But nothing to do with a bomb or anything like that. The precautions that we were taking was because that threat had been raised and so we just wanted to make sure that there was nothing untoward,” Kilavuka said.
Jets intercept KQ100 flight from Nairobi to London over security threat
The BBC quoted a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman saying that “RAF Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Coningsby were launched as a precaution to investigate the KQ plane which was approaching the UK.
“The civilian aircraft remained in contact with air traffic controllers throughout, and was escorted to Stansted Airport where it landed safely. This incident is now under the control of the civilian authorities,” the UK Ministry of Defense was quoted by the BBC.
After landing at Stansted Airport, the KQ plane was escorted to a remote parking stand. Armed officers were spotted on the plane. There were also reports that bomb squads had also been directed to the plane.
However, after brief investigations, nothing of concern was raised and the security situation was stood down. This was confirmed by a spokesperson for Essex Police.
“Officers have established there is nothing of concern on board a flight diverted to Stansted Airport. Officers carried out enquiries and established there was nothing of concern on board. The plane has been handed back to the airport which has remained operational throughout,” the spokesperson was quoted.
A related report by the UK’s Sky News said that the Boeing 787 was diverted to London Stansted just before 3.45pm. “It had been due to land at Heathrow Airport from Nairobi. It is understood the two Typhoon jets took over the interception from French jets,” the report said.Â
