Terrorist threat scuttled US flight

The threat of a missile attack on planes using Nairobi’s main airport led to the cancellation of an inaugural direct flight between Kenya and the US.

The Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta, Georgia, to Nairobi was called off at the last minute on Tuesday after an American Cabinet minister personally called the chief executive of the world’s largest airline, which was launching the only direct flight between the two cities.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga was to officiate at the arrival ceremony at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Kenya's capital Nairobi. But hours before the maiden flight, American intelligence learnt of a possible attack on aircraft using JKIA by terrorists armed with shoulder-launched missiles, similar to the ones used on a botched raid against an Israeli airliner in Mombasa seven years ago.

The missile did not hit the aircraft though another simultaneous attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kikambala, Kilifi District, killed 15 people. A flurry of high-level consultation within the Obama government preceded the decision by US Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano to stop the flight.

She personally called the Delta boss following recommendations from the American Transport Security Administration. Kenya Airports Authority managing director George Muhoho said a US inspection team had visited Kenya five weeks ago and certified the airport as safe.

Increased patrols

“I think the issue being raised is not the airport per se but the East African region. Otherwise we increased patrols as they had asked us to, among other measures, and they said it was okay,” he said.

The Transport Security Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, issued a statement which read in part: “TSA is currently denying air service by Delta to Nairobi and Monrovia until security standards are met or security threat assessments change.”

The FBI believes Saleh Ali Saleh, an al Qaeda operative, was behind that attack. He remains at large.