An Air France plane sits on the tarmac after it was diverted to Halifax Stanfield International Airport near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015.
Two Air France flights en route to Paris from the United States were diverted on Tuesday because of security issues, and passengers and crew were safely removed, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
An Airbus A-380 that departed from Los Angeles landed in Salt Lake City, where passengers and crew were being taken off the plane and escorted into the terminal, an FAA spokesman said.
A separate flight that left Dulles International Airport outside Washington was diverted to Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia, also because of an unspecified security concern, and passengers and crew had disembarked, the FAA said.
Halifax airport spokesman Peter Spurway said the Air France Boeing 777 jet was diverted to Halifax at 10:15 pm. eastern time and was currently sitting at the end of the airport's main runway.
"It's an RCMP matter," Spurway said referring to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "The passengers are being deplaned at this point and being transferred to a secure area of the terminal building because they're international passengers."
CNN, citing a US government official, reported that Flight 65, the flight which originated in Los Angeles, was diverted after a bomb threat was called in from the ground. The official did not know if anyone was arrested in connection with that incident.
"Several law enforcement agencies are working in concert, following established protocol, to determine the nature of the threats which caused the aircraft to divert," FBI Special Agent Todd Palmer, of the agency's Salt Lake City division, told the network.
Security officials have been on high alert since last week's
deadly attacks in Paris, claimed by Islamic State militants, killed 129 people.
© Thomson Reuters 2015