JEDDAH, 16 August 2003 — Saudi authorities have denied reports that the Kingdom closed King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh and diverted flights to an alternative airport in anticipation of possible terror attacks.
“These reports are false. The airport is operating to full capacity,” an official source at the Presidency of Civil Aviation told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News.
The official said the rumors of the airport closure spread following American and British warnings against possible terror attacks on their interests in the Kingdom.
Interior Minister Prince Naif said on Thursday that the Kingdom had no “specific information” about a plan by terrorists to attack or hijack planes at KKIA, Riyadh’s main airport.
British Airways suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after the discovery of what US officials described as a plot by terrorists to attack planes at the Riyadh airport. BA acted after Saudi authorities discovered a document indicating Saudi militants had been “casing” King Khaled airport ahead of a possible attack, a US official told AFP in Washington.
Prince Naif also denied suggestions that Tuesday’s campaign against Al-Qaeda-linked militants was launched on the basis of information that there was a terrorist plan to attack or hijack a commercial plane at the airport.
The US State Department on Wednesday renewed its warning for US citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia, citing credible threats to “Western aviation interests” in the country.
Australia yesterday joined the United States and Britain in warning its citizens to avoid travel to Saudi Arabia. The new travel warning told Australians to stay away from Saudi shopping malls, hotels, foreign residential areas, restaurants, clubs, schools, airports, places of worship, outdoor recreation events and tourist areas.
BA said earlier Wednesday it had taken the step to stop flights to Riyadh and Jeddah after consulting with Britain’s Department of Transport, where a spokesman told AFP there was “credible intelligence of a serious threat to UK aviation interests in Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabian Airlines “will organize extra flights to make up for the shortfall in flights coming from and going to London,” the national carrier’s director general Dr. Khaled Bin Bakr told Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper.
An official at KKIA told Reuters: “We respect (British Airways’) decision, but there is no real threat to any airline in the Kingdom. We think that the flights might be resumed within five days.”
Other European carriers said they had no plans to stop Saudi flights.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a document found during the round-up of suspects last week in Riyadh indicated that King Khaled airport had been under surveillance, presumably for a possible attack.
The document did not specify what type of attack but mentioned British planes, one official said, adding: “It’s clear that they were paying attention to British planes.”
Passengers turning up at London’s Heathrow airport for Wednesday’s flight to Jeddah were handed letters saying they could call the airline for a refund.
“Personally, I think British Airways is overreacting to certain things. They ought to show us the evidence or tell us exactly why they have canceled all the flights,” said Londoner Arfan Ali, 25, who had planned a pilgrimage to Makkah to perform Umrah with his father Mohammed.
Many Saudis have criticized US and British travel warnings to the Kingdom, saying they were intended to force Riyadh to raise the stakes in the war on terror.
“The warnings will have a negative impact on Saudi Arabia as a country; they give a message that the Saudi authorities are not reining in terrorism and are not in full control of security,” Saudi journalist Dawood Al-Shiryan told Reuters.
“This is part of exerting pressure and they know the sensitivity of the Kingdom when they talk about its security.”
Many ordinary people, however, dismissed the warnings as routine, saying they were accustomed to such statements since Sept. 11, 2001.
“Such statements have no effect locally because people live in a reality that does not justify these fears. Security in the country does not indicate that it is unsafe or unstable,” said a Saudi academic.
A security crackdown since the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh has led to a series of arrests and bloody clashes with militants in which 16 suspects and 11 policemen have been killed.
“Perhaps they have their reasons to issue warnings, but we have not noticed anything out of the ordinary,” said Nasser Hamad, a 35-year-old Saudi who works at King Khaled airport.
