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British Airways is fighting a High Court lawsuit brought by passengers and crew who were taken hostage when one of its flights landed in Kuwait in 1990 just as Iraq invaded the country at the start of the Gulf war.
Dozens of individuals on board flight BA149 are suing the airline over claims it allowed the aircraft to land despite warnings that an invasion was imminent.
The lawsuit said that “in the course of being held hostage, one or more of the claimants were subjected to inhumane treatment and assault, including instances of sexual assault, rape, mock executions and other forms of torture and mistreatment”.
More than 100 claimants, including passengers and crew as well as the estates of several deceased individuals, are listed on the court filing system as having filed the claim last year against both the UK government and the airline.
They accused BA of acting “in concert” with the UK government by allegedly agreeing to carry spies secretly on an intelligence mission on the flight, making them a target for Iraq.
BA, part of International Airlines Group, denies liability, and legal papers set out the details of its forceful defence.
The airline’s legal team, led by David Platt KC, described the claims as an “abuse of process”. The defence filing said that claims by passengers had been brought far too late, while crew members had previously accepted settlement payments from the airline.
The claimants, represented by Anne Studd KC, are suing for negligence and misfeasance in public office. Their lawsuit alleged that about eight passengers on the flight from London Heathrow were “military or quasi-military personnel” on a secret intelligence mission.
The lawsuit claimed that the members of the group, part of an alleged UK special forces unit known as “the Increment”, were not listed on the flight manifest that documented passengers, but that the captain was aware of their presence.
Studd maintained that a British official in Kuwait specifically advised a BA manager against allowing flights to land after midnight on August 2 1990.
BA149 landed at about 4.15am local time, with the claimants saying it was “the only flight that landed in Kuwait City after midnight”.
BA said in its filing that it took reasonable steps to ensure the safety of those on board and that it had not been told that Iraqi forces had crossed the border before the flight landed.
It denies being party to any agreement about “the Increment” or having any knowledge of alleged spies. It also denies that a British official advised against allowing the flight to land. “There was no such conversation,” BA’s lawyers wrote.
Its defence filing argued that claims by passengers are time-barred under a two-year limit laid down by the Warsaw Convention, which governs the liability of airlines.
It also said that employees had previously accepted payments of between £3,000 and £15,000 in a “full and final settlement” as a “consequence of their adverse experiences relating to BA149 and their treatment/detention in Kuwait and Iraq”.
“The claimants who entered into these agreements have compromised their rights and their claims herein are an abuse of process and should be struck out,” the filing stated.
BA also said litigation had previously been pursued in England, France and Texas.
Court records showed that defence documents for the Cabinet Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Ministry of Defence were filed on Friday, but were not immediately publicly accessible.
The UK government declined to comment.
