KQ flags as fake flight tracker of intercepted plane

Kenya Airways has flagged as fake screenshots of a flight tracker circulating online alleging it to be of the plane that was intercepted early Thursday in the UK.

The image indicates that the flight in question was a KQ100.

Kenya Airways said the diverted flight was a Boeing 787 flight that had left Nairobi to the UK via Chad, Niger and Algeria airspaces.

The fake flight tracker indicated that the plane left Nairobi to Uganda, through to Eastern Europe, back to Tunisia before it headed for London. 

Through a post on X (formerly Twitter) KQ urged members of the public to follow its official social media pages for accurate details. 

"Beware of fake news on KQ100 flight from Nairobi to London Heathrow on October 12, 2023. For accurate details, please check our preceding post," the post read.

The diverted plane was enroute to Heathrow Airport but by Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter jets intercepted it over what was initially described as "a "potential security threat".

KQ said in a statement that it received a security alert at approximately 10:30am from the Royal Air Force (RAF), and alerted the relevant Operations team and crew onboard about the situation.

In a subsequent statement, KQ clarified that the Boeing 787 flight did not have any security issues before or after landing upon diversion.

"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 company said terming the threat as one of low credibility.

CEO llan Kilavuka said there was suspicion of some of the people on board but it was nothing to do with a bomb or anything like that.

The national carrier said counselling support will be provided to the passengers whose security it said comes first.

"The crew on board were briefed and all safety and security precautions were taken to ensure the safety and security of our crew and passengers on board.

"The precautions that we were taking was because that threat had been raised and so we just wanted to make sure that there was nothing untoward."