UPDATE: Air France flight diverted over US

Airline Industry Information, May 13, 2005

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

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Air France flight 332 from Paris, France to Boston, USA was diverted to Maine on Thursday (12 May) at the request of US authorities.

According to officials, the aircraft was diverted as they wanted to check a passenger aboard the flight who had almost the same name and birth date as someone on the no-fly list maintained by the US. Rebecca Hupp, the director of Bangor International Airport, said that after the passenger and three family members had been removed from the flight it continued to Boston less than two hours later. The aircraft, an Airbus A330, had been carrying 169 passengers, according to The Associated Press.

The passengers taken off the flight were reportedly a man, a woman, a young child and a baby. They were detained by immigration officials, but were later released and allowed to continue as it was determined that the man was not the one on the list.

Mark Hatfield, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said that the name was the same apart from a small spelling difference while the birth date was the same. The name was not released but Hatfield described the man on the list as "a serious bad actor" with known connections to terrorism.

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