London, Jan. 6 (Reuters): Thomas Cook Airlines, the charter flight arm of Europe’s second biggest travel firm, said today it would cancel any flights on which it was required to carry an armed air marshal on board.

The German-owned carrier flies to Orlando in the US from two airports in Britain and also flies through American airspace on its way to the Caribbean.

“Thomas Cook Airlines has not changed its policy that if presented with a sky marshal on any of our routes, the flight would be cancelled,” the charter carrier said in a statement. It is owned by airline Lufthansa and retailer KarstadtQuelle.

Britain announced last weekend that armed marshals would be deployed on some flights as a “last line of defence” against would-be suicide hijackers. The decision sparked anger from the pilots’ association, which said it did not want guns on planes.

British Airways, Europe’s biggest airline, said yesterday it would accept the deployment of an armed police officer on board a flight if it was satisfied that safety would be enhanced.

“If there is security information about a particular flight that gives us cause for concern, then we will not operate that flight,” a BA spokesman added.

BA and Thomas Cook are in talks with the government on the procedure for deploying marshals. Another key issue for the airlines is who will foot the bill. The British Air Lines Pilots Association (BALPA) has reached agreement with Virgin Atlantic Airways on rules for marshals and is hoping to have its protocols adopted by all UK airlines.

After fears of a September 11-style attack, BA resumed flights to the Saudi capital Riyadh yesterday and a much-delayed service to Washington took to the skies again. The Washington service was cancelled twice last week. US homeland security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking to CNN, warned passengers more cancellations due to security threats were likely in the future.