Travel chaos as flights cancelled; Heathrow closed to all incoming flights

air chaos wrote:
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Air passengers across Europe faced major
delays on Thursday after London's Heathrow Airport was closed to all
incoming flights as police said they had disrupted a major terrorist
plot.

In a statement, BAA, which owns Heathrow, said the airport had been
closed to all short haul flights not already in the air due to
congestion caused by heightened security checks.

British Airways said all short haul flights in and out of Heathrow --
Europe's busiest airport -- had been canceled for the rest of the day
and advised passengers who did not need to travel today to stay away
from the airport.

It has also canceled some domestic and shorthaul services to and from
London Gatwick but said it aimed to operate as many longhaul services
as possible from both airports, subject to delays.

The UK's threat warning level was raised to "critical" -- meaning "an
attack is expected imminently" -- after police said they had arrested
21 people in connection with a terrorist plot to blow up aircraft
flying to the U.S. (Full story)

Meanwhile, with thousands of passengers already facing long delays,
several other airlines announced they were canceling flights to and
from the UK.

Germany's Lufthansa said it had canceled all flights to the UK until 3
p.m. GMT due to "logistical and not security" reasons while Air France
blamed cancelations on "saturation" at Heathrow, The Associated Press
reported.

Alitalia, Iberia, KLM and SAS also canceled flights to London while
all flights to London airports from Brussels and Athens were grounded.

Budget airline Easyjet said it had cancelled all flights out of
Gatwick, Stansted and Luton for the rest of the day.

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "Earlier this morning all
UK airports and all airlines operating in to and out of the UK were
asked to implement a heightened level of security and this step has
been taken to ensure maximum security on all flights so people can go
ahead with their travel arrangements.

"However, ensuring maximum security unfortunately will involve
immediate and severe disruption for passengers with significant delays
likely at all UK airports. This heightened level of security will last
only as long as the situation demands, we will keep this under
review."

Travelers from Heathrow and other UK airports faced long delays on
Thursday morning as authorities implemented stringent security checks
and said that no hand luggage would be allowed onto planes. Passengers
were being allowed to carry essential items such as wallets, travel
documents and medical items in transparent plastic bags. (Full story)

BAA said all passengers would be hand-searched with travelers to the
U.S. subjected to a secondary search at the boarding gate.

CNN's Adrian Finighan said Heathrow was "effectively closed,"
describing scenes inside the airport's terminals as "organized chaos"
while skies overhead were "eerily quiet."

"It is chaotic, it is far busier than normal and the queues are
horrendous," said Finighan. He said the presence of armed police with
sniffer dogs inside the airport was "very visible."

Lengthy queues, cancelations and delays were also reported at London's
Gatwick and Stansted airports, Manchester Airport, Newcastle Airport
and Belfast Airport in Northern Ireland.

At Stansted, staff listed more than 40 canceled flights on a board
outside the airport as a line of passengers stretched hundreds of
meters from the security check-in area back to the main entrance, the
UK's Press Association reported.

In the U.S., a United Airline spokeswoman said its flights from London
were delayed by at least two-and-a-half hours.

American Airlines canceled six Thursday flights between the U.S. and
London to accommodate the delays at Heathrow airport, The Associated
Press reported.

Spokesman John Hotard said the airline's remaining 13 flights to and
from London were expected to run up to three-and-a-half hours late.
We're going to be flying out of Heathrow today," Hotard told AP. "It's
just that it's so congested right now."

A Delta Airlines spokesman said Delta flights were expected to run as
normal, but warned of delays to incoming flights from London, AP
reported.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe...ion=cnn_latest

I wonder .....