U.S. fighter jets escort Air France flight to New York after threat

World | Mon May 25, 2015 6:44pm EDT

Related: World, France

by Biodun Iginla, Reuters and BBC News, New York

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An Air France (AIRF.PA) flight from Paris was escorted by two U.S. F-15 fighter jets to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday after an anonymous threat was made against the flight, the U.S. military said.Air France flight 22, traveling from Charles de Gaulle Airport, landed safely in New York, officials said.
The anonymous threat came in a telephone call to a Maryland State Police barracks on Monday morning, and the caller made a bomb threat involving commercial aviation, Maryland State Police said.
Two U.S. Air Force F-15 jets were launched as a precaution to monitor the flight as it approached New York, said Navy Lieutenant Commander Richlyn Ivey, a spokeswoman for U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.
The plane was cleared in New York with no incidents or hazards reported by passengers or crew, said J. Peter Donald, an FBI spokesman.
The New York Post reported 165 passengers and 11 crew members on board the Air France Airbus A-330 though those figures could not be confirmed.
Air France could not be reached for comment.
Separately, New York's WNBC television reported that a threat had been made against a separate American Airlines (AAL.O) flight headed to JFK, but that threat was deemed not credible and the flight was cleared.