Dubai: British Airways on Saturday evening suspended its flights to Cairo for a week as a “precaution” just after the British government issued a warning about a higher risk of attacks on planes over Egypt.

“We constantly review our security arrangements at all our airports around the world, and have suspended flights to Cairo for seven days as a precaution to allow for further assessment,” British Airways said.

The suspension of flights came abruptly on Saturday even as British Airways passengers were about to board a flight from London to Cairo. Media reports said passengers were stopped from boarding and told by the airline that there would be no flights to the Egyptian capital for another week.

British Airways did not provide details on why it was suspending the flights or what the safety concerns were. In its statement, it only said, “The safety and security of our customers and crew is always a priority, and we would never operate an aircraft unless it was safe to do so.”

The United Kingdom government’s official website warns Britons against traveling to Sinai specifically because of likely terrorist attacks there as well as to certain areas in west Egypt, but does not warn against travel to Cairo.

It says, however, there is “a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation,” and that “additional security measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the UK.”

As estimated 415,000 British nationals visited Egypt in 2018, according to the government’s website.