According to a declassified CIA intelligence report from December 4, 1998: “Some members of the Bin Ladin network have received hijack training, according to various sources, but no group directly tied to Bin Ladin’s al-Qa’ida organization has ever carried out an aircraft hijacking. Bin Ladin could be weighing other types of operations against US aircraft. According to [redacted] the IG [terrorist group Gama’at al-Islamiyya] in October obtained SA-7 missiles and intended to move them from Yemen into Saudi Arabia to shoot down an Egyptian plane or, if unsuccessful, a US military or civilian aircraft.”
– CIA, “Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack US Aircraft and Other Attacks,” (CIA Intelligence Report), The Central Intelligence Agency’s 9/11 File:, The National Security Archive, Dec. 4, 1998