BA flight crews will not stay in Saudi Arabia

British Airways has stopped its flight crews from staying overnight in Saudi Arabia following a series of attacks on Westerners, it emerged today.

Staff on flights from Heathrow will now leave the plane at Kuwait, while another BA crew takes the aircraft on to Saudi, according to a spokesman.

That crew will remain in the airport while the plane is refuelled, and will not stay in the country overnight, he added.

The new guidelines, which came in to force on Wednesday and affect all flights to Riyadh and Jeddah, are in reaction to a series of attacks on foreign workers in the Middle East state.

An American was shot dead in Riyadh yesterday, and another has been kidnapped.

BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers was killed and the corporation’s security correspondent Frank Gardner was critically injured in a drive-by shooting in the capital on June 6.

The BA spokesman said today: “We keep our situation in Saudi under constant review, and the new schedule is in place until further notice.

“The security of our staff is paramount,” he added.