Mohammed Alkhereiji, Arab News Staff

JEDDAH, 13 September 2003 — A source at Saudi Arabian Airlines has said the information in a Sept. 11 New York Times article saying that five Saudi pilots from the national carrier were barred from flying to the United States is “dated, and occurred over a year ago.”

The matter had been settled and all Saudia pilots were free to travel anywhere in the world including the United States without restrictions, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, on condition of anonymity.

But the New York Times reported a Bush administration official as saying that the five pilots were barred when their names turned up in July after US counterterrorism teams did new background checks on some 6,000 foreign pilots who fly for dozens of international airlines in and out of the US.

The Article goes on to say that Saudia and the five pilots were notified several days ago that the pilots would no longer be allowed to enter the United States under any circumstances.

Although a senior Homeland Security Official said the pilots “are not believed to be involved with any active plot to use aircraft to attack US interests,” officials were still reviewing “second-hand” intelligence that has raised the possibility the pilots “might be affiliated with Al-Qaeda.”