Letter: There were no block bookings on flight 149, says British Airways
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Your support makes all the difference.THE ARTICLES published in the Independent on Sunday on 9 August about BA flight 149 on 1-2 August 1990 contain several inaccurate theories which must be corrected.
First, the articles refer to a 'block booking' on the flight made in Hereford and imply the booking was for military personnel. There was no such booking and to the best of British Airways' knowledge, there were no military personnel on the flight.
Second, it is totally untrue that our decisions to despatch the flight and then to land in Kuwait were in any way influenced by the identity of any of those on board or were made in an attempt to rescue our employees in Kuwait. The safety of passengers and crew is always British Airways' paramount concern in relation to any flight. The truth is that, despite making all due inquiries, British Airways did not know and could not have known that BA flight 149 would be in any danger following its landing in Kuwait.
Third, you suggest that there were other aircraft due to land in Kuwait on the night of 1-2 August after BA 149 landed and that those aircraft were diverted. In fact there were no aircraft scheduled to land between the time BA 149 landed and the time Kuwait City airport was closed. All the flights due to depart before BA flight 149 landed left routinely. Further, several other airlines had crews and aircraft detained in Kuwait. No airline appears to have had better information than British Airways.
Fourth, you state that investigation of the circumstances surrounding BA 149 is hampered 'by the fact that some of the documentation relating to the flight has disappeared'. Although it is true that the passenger lists were withdrawn from our computer systems to protect the identity of passengers, we have retained hard copies of all records necessary to verify the details of passengers and bookings on the flight. It is our invariable practice to respect the privacy of passengers by keeping such records confidential.
Finally, you suggest that BA's chairman, Lord King, was 'angry' that we had not received warning of the invasion of Kuwait, but that we suppressed any criticism to avoid jeopardising our commercial interests. That is totally untrue. We have no reason to believe that any warning could have been given to us before BA 149 landed and we have neither expressed nor suppressed any criticism on this point.
Mervyn Walker
British Airways
Heathrow, Hounslow
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