Horrific Terror Plot Foiled In The U.K.

Airports Thrown Into Chaos As New Regulations Are Introduced

The revelation that British Police had a foiled a terror plot by suspected Islamic extremists last Thursday caused travel chaos across Europe as British airports were effectively shut down for several hours and new regulations for carry-on baggage were implemented by authorities and airlines across the world.

According to British authorities, the plotters had intended to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" by planting bombs on at least ten American-flagged airplanes travelling from the U.K. to the United States, using liquid explosives smuggled onboard the planes in carry-on luggage.

As a result of these revelations, Britain increased its terror alert level to "critical" - meaning that there was an imminent risk of a terrorist attack - and the U.S. increased its alert level to "severe" for all flights from the U.K.

Many flights from U.K. airports were cancelled as a result of the crisis, causing a knock-on effect of delays worldwide. Airports in Ireland, especially Belfast International and Dublin were particularly badly affected

Travellers using Dublin Airport complained that they felt ignored, claiming that the airport staff were not passing on information on which flights were delayed or cancelled.

However, Siobhan Moore, a spokeswoman for Dublin Airport Authority, insisted that officials were handling stranded passengers and others waiting for flights to arrive.

"We have special dedicated corral areas. We have 35 customer care teams on the floor at any one time. We are giving out water to passengers," she said.

"Where we have information we are giving it out. We are getting information from the airlines themselves because obviously it affects their flight schedules, so where we can give information we are doing that."

The new rules were also said to be impacting duty free sales as travellers were unable to take liquor, perfumes and toiletries with them after checking in their baggage.

Though long delays were reported in Belfast and Dublin, Cork and Shannon escaped the worst of the disruptions with only four flights cancelled from Shannon and six from Cork.

By Friday evening, services at Belfast International Airport were said to be returning to normal, a spokesman saying that they had "a few minor delays," and pointing out that it was taking a little extra time to process passengers through check-in desks.

The new regulations will remain in place for the foreseeable future, though restrictions on carrying any hand-baggage that were implemented in U.K. airports were relaxed early on Tuesday morning, much to the relief of travellers.

The Irish government was quick to point out that there was no direct threat to Ireland or travellers to the country, but they did warn people to continue to be vigilant.

Mary Coughlan, the Minister for Agriculture told reporters that, "The Government is deeply concerned at the existence of a plot to attack airlines flying out of the UK.

"We are pleased that the successful intervention of the security services there has averted such a major threat to lives on a huge scale."