Texas flight to Germany diverted to New York after bomb threat

SAN FRANCISCO/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A Lufthansa flight headed to Germany from Texas was diverted to a New York City airport on Monday, following a bomb threat called in to the airline's headquarters, officials said. Flight 441 destined for Frankfurt from Houston landed safely and was taken to a remote area of John F. Kennedy International Airport around 8:30 p.m., said Steve Coleman, a spokesman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. All passengers had left the airplane and were put up at hotels, while authorities searched the plane, a Lufthansa spokesman said on Tuesday morning in Germany. He neither confirmed nor denied receipt of a bomb threat, adding that he did not have enough information. Once the search is complete, the plane will be flown back to Germany without passengers, said the Lufthansa spokesman, Joerg Waber. Operations at the New York City airport had not been affected by the incident, said Coleman, the Port Authority spokesman. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Olaf Brenner, Tina Bellon in Frankfurt; Writing by Tina Bellon; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)