Airline bomb plot causes worldwide airline chaos

Air travel to and from Britain have been severely disrupted as drastic security measures were swiftly introduced following the discovery of a suspected plot to blow up planes on transatlantic flights. Many airlines said they were cancelling all flights to Britain and to the epicentre of the threat, London Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, and warned the problems could last for several days. The inter-connected nature of international air travel meant the disruption caused by chaos at Heathrow in the wake of the new measures was rippling out across the world. In contrast to their European counterparts, and despite a request by the British Airports Authority, US airlines said they were not planning to cancel flights to Heathrow, but warned of severe delays. British anti-terrorist police said the plot involved explosives concealed in hand luggage, which led to security being beefed up at most of Britain's airports.