The flights were intended to be the airliners attacked, he said. Wright said the seven targeted flights would have all departed within three hours from London on any given afternoon and been in the air simultaneously. Each would have carried between 240 and 285 people.

But the group had expressed hopes of recruiting as many as 18 suicide bombers for the attacks, Wright said. He told jurors that the suspects hoped to smuggle hydrogen peroxide explosives on board, disguised as soft drinks or mouthwash by using empty bottles and adding food dye to the mixture. The explosives would then be assembled and detonated in mid-flight. "They were prepared to board an aircraft with the necessary ingredients and equipment to construct and detonate a device that would bring about not only the loss of their own lives, but also all of those who happened by chance to be taking the same journey," he said.

Airlines imposed tough new limits on the amount of liquids and gels passengers can carry on to flights as a result of the alleged plot. "The plan was designed to bring about what would have been a civilian death toll on an almost unprecedented scale," Wright said.

He said the plot was intended to be a "violent and deadly statement of intent" in the name of Islam, that would have repercussions across the world. Law enforcement officials have not established whether the group planned to detonate the bombs in mid-flight over the Atlantic Ocean, or over North American cities. "They would have been completely at the mercy of the suicide bombers, who would have been on board with their deadly cargo," Wright said.

Following his arrest, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, was found to have a computer memory stick that stored vast amounts of detail on the times, aircraft types, departure terminals and flight paths for daily services bound from London to North America. Seven specific journeys were highlighted within the files, but Ali had also logged details of other flights to Boston, Denver and Miami. "They did not confine their ambitions to the seven flights," Wright said.

The prosecutor said the men had not checked details of return journeys. "They didn't appear interested in flying back to the United Kingdom on a return flight," he said, Major disruption was caused to British airports and hundreds of flights were grounded when police arrested the suspects in August 2006. "The attack they contemplated was not long off," when police rounded up the men, Wright said.

Discovery of the plot led to tight new restrictions on the items airline passengers can to take on board planes as carryon luggage. All eight men, each of whom has family ties to Pakistan, are accused of conspiracy to murder and a charge of planning an act of violence likely to endanger the safety of an aircraft. Both charges carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment.

The men are: Ali, 27; Assad Sarwar, 27; Tanvir Hussain, 27; Mohammed Gulzar, 26; Ibrahim Savant, 27; Arafat Waheed Khan, 26; Waheed Zaman, 23 and Umar Islam, 29. The is trial expected to last about six months. AP