The Kenya Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was en route to London Heathrow on Thursday was intercepted by the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) and directed to Stansted Airport over security concerns.
KQ in a statement on Thursday night noted that it has been cleared to complete the journey as the security threat which caused the diversion was of “low credibility”.
“We received a security alert on the 12th Oct 2023 at approximately 10:30am, from the UK Security agencies. This threat has since been established to have low credibility,” the airline said in a statement.
KQ noted that it alerted the relevant operations team including the crew onboard which then took the necessary security measures as per our operating manuals.
“The aircraft landed safely at London Stansted Airport, the incident has been stood down and the airport is open and is operating as normal. The security agencies cleared the aircraft and will be departing for London Heathrow to resume normal operations,” KQ stated.
The airline went on to apologize to the crew and passengers onboard adding that it will provide necessary counseling support.
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience to our passengers and crew and would like to thank them for their patience.We would also like to thank our crew for their professionalism during this incident,” KQ continued.
“We will provide any necessary counseling support and will communicate directly to our passengers on how they receive it.”
The reason for the diversion still remains unclear, with the London press reporting that bomb squads were seen rushing to the scene.
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