British Minister Sees Years of Flight Delays

Travelers will face security-related flight delays and cancellations “for many years to come,” Britain’s transportation minister said Sunday as another British Airways flight from London to Washington was delayed for security checks requested by the United States.

Armed police stood guard at the departure gate as detectives questioned the 241 passengers of Flight 223 before they were allowed to board the jet. The flight left after more than three hours.

Flight 223 also was delayed Saturday, again for more than three hours. The same flight was canceled Thursday and Friday because of security concerns, stranding hundreds of travelers.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said there were grounds to cancel and delay those flights, and one on Saturday to the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, based on intelligence warnings.

Darling declined to comment on media reports that Britain received information that Al Qaeda planned to use British Airways flights to launch suicide attacks on prominent targets in the United States.

“I fear that for many years to come we’re going to be living in an age where there is a heightened state of alert,” he told the BBC. “Sometimes it will be quite severe, at other times perhaps less so, but it does mean that we’re going to have to get used to increased security at airports.”

British Airways spokesman Paul Parry said the weekend delays were due to a U.S. request for extra security information.

Meanwhile Sunday, three passengers aboard a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Rome were detained after one of them allegedly said the aircraft was being hijacked, then quickly said it was a joke, an airline official said.