]
]
] British Airways will resume flights to Saudi Arabia today
] as the company considers fitting anti-missile technology
] to its aircraft.
]
] The UK's biggest carrier suspended flights to the kingdom
] on August 13 after a warning that one of its planes might
] be shot down in Riyadh. Plans for an attack were
] apparently uncovered during raids in the Saudi capital
] between August 10-12.
]
] The decision to resume a normal schedule came after BA
] sent its own security experts to Saudi Arabia, working
] with the kingdom's authorities to implement new "robust
] and sustainable" security measures.
]
] Earlier this week, it was reported that Saudi authorities
] had seized a lorryload of missiles near Jeddah airport
] capable of bringing down a passenger aircraft.
]
] The missiles, which had been smuggled from Yemen, were
] seized last month, but it was unclear how many had been
] found.
]
] BA confirmed that the risk of missile attacks on
] commercial jets had prompted it to begin talks with
] manufacturers Boeing and Airbus about adapting military
] technology to at least 350 planes.
]
] Last November, shoulder-fired missiles narrowly missed an
] Israeli charter plane with 260 tourists on board which
] had just taken off from Mombasa airport in Kenya.
]
] Earlier this week, Britain lifted its ban on flights by
] British airlines to Mombasa. The ban on UK flights to
] Nairobi was lifted