Airlines warn over Olympic delays

There's a warning that passengers could face severe delays and disruption at London's airports during the Olympic Games.

Britain's leading airlines have warned that passengers could face "severe delay and disruption" at London's airports during the Olympic Games.

British Airways, bmi, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic have called for the Government to take "urgent action" to cope with delays which could be caused by security measures and bad weather.

The impending travel chaos could be prevented if airlines and controllers at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) could operate differently during the Games, they say in a letter to Transport Secretary Justine Greening and other transport bosses.

The letter says: "As the situation currently stands the industry believes that there is a significant risk of severe delay and disruption at all of London's major airports unless urgent action is taken."

The letter goes on to say that action must be taken before a key meeting between transport bosses on March 22.

A DfT spokeswoman said: "We are confident that the majority of these additional issues have now been addressed and we look forward to discussing them with the airlines concerned at a meeting next week.

"We continue to work closely with the CAA, NATS and the industry to ensure any disruption is kept to a minimum."