In a letter to transport ministers, British Airways, bmi, Virgin Atlantic and Easyjet have warned that there could be chaos at London's airports during the Olympic Games if action isn’t taken to deal with the expected surge in air traffic.
They wrote: "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… Time is running out to ensure that any changes to procedures and the appropriate training are in place prior to the Games."
Six areas of concern were highlighted in the letter, including the resilience of air space in coping with the number of planes taking off and landing during the Olympics, the impact of any adverse weather, and the effect any security incident might have.
Although air traffic controllers have already submitted five proposals to prioritise flights in southeast England during the Games, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had rejected all of them.
A meeting between the airlines, the DfT and CAA is planned for March 22 but the airlines say a decision is needed before then and that “failure to respond leaves the UK vulnerable to the type of major disruption that will cause significant reputational damage and would be foolhardy and reckless".
Chaos at UK airports predicted during Olympics
