Air passengers spied-on in flight

AMERICAN and British secret services spied on phone calls from passengers on several airlines, and especially Air France, and were able to intercept a range of data including secret codes.

Published Saturday 14 January 2017 - 11:43 Modified Saturday 14 January 2017 - 11:43

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The NSA and GCHQ intercepted phone signals from planes above 10,000ft as all calls and data passed via a ‘tappable’ satellite link, documents by whistleblower Edward Snowdon said.

Le Monde said the UK’s GCHQ was even able to block passengers’ phones so they had to restart them – and reveal the phone passcodes.

Aimed to prevent a repeat of the September 11 terror attacks in the US, the documents revealed the US CIA believed Air France and Aeromexico flights were favoured by terrorists.

Air France denied the claims, saying calls were not possible.