Several US-bound commercial flights subject to anonymous threats on Monday

It has been reported that on Monday, May 25th, this week two US fighter jets escorted Air France flight 22 to JFK airport. This plane was a one of a number of US- bound commercial flights which were subject to anonymous threats on Monday, possible all from the same source. US officials have indicated that they were in receipt of an anonymous call at Maryland State Police barracks at 06:30 local time (10:30 GMT) on Monday and that the FBI was informed instantly. It has been revealed that the call claimed there was a “chemical weapons threat” relating to flight 22. The flight managed to land safely at New York’s JFK airport and was searched in a secure area – the FBI later confirming that no hazards had been found onboard the plane.
An FBI spokesman stated that: “Out of an abundance of caution, Air France flight number 22 was escorted to John F Kennedy airport by US Air Force fighter jets following a phone threat. The plane has landed and has deboarded. There were no incidents or hazards reported on board the flight by either the passengers or its crew. The plane has been cleared.” On receipt of the threat two F-15 planes were scrambled as a precautionary measure, even though the threat itself was not actually considered to be credible, the joint US-Canadian monitoring force, Norad, has made clear. According to ABC News, the planes ‘escorted’ the Airbus A-330 jet into US airspace, yet remained completely out of sight of passengers and crew.
Officials also confirmed that a Saudi Airlines flight which had recently landed at JFK on the Monday morning was also searched because of another threat, while it has also been revealed by Kent Powell, a spokesman for American Airlines, that a threat was made against one of their planes which was flying from Birmingham in the UK, again to JFK. Though the flight was at first asked to taxi to a secure remote area, the threat was deemed not credible and the plane was cleared to go to the terminal.