Mohammed Alkhereiji, Arab News Staff

JEDDAH, 7 January 2004 — British Airways resumed flights to Riyadh on Monday after they had been suspended following a terror alert.

According to BA, Flight No. 263 took off from London’s Heathrow airport at 10.55 p.m. London time and arrived in Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport at 10.48 local time.

“We are pleased to resume our normal flight schedule,” said Chris Phipps, the commercial manager for British Airways. “We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused our valued customers, and we see no reason for things not to go as planned,” he added.

The airline, which flies to the Kingdom’s capital three times a week, canceled two of its scheduled flights from London destined for Washington D.C. and Riyadh, after the UK government advised the airline not to operate the flight for security reasons.

Interior Minister Prince Naif last week downplayed the security concerns that prompted British Airways to ground the flights.

“Although the channels... between (BA) and us are open, they did not tell us about anything related to planes,” he said when asked whether he had information on terrorist attacks on specific planes or flights. This concerns them only and they know their own affairs better,” the minister said.