Originally Posted by The Daily Telegraph

The chief executive of Heathrow is facing an official ultimatum to resolve the disruption at the understaffed airport, as the world’s biggest international airline openly defies his order to cancel flights.In a joint letter from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) director general for aviation, maritime and security and chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), John Holland-Kaye has been given until noon on Friday to assure them that the airport has enough staff for security screening and to assist disabled passengers. In addition, he was ordered to report back with a “credible and resilient capacity recovery plan for the next six months”, according to the letter seen by The Telegraph.

Rannia Leontaridi of the DfT and Richard Moriarty of the CAA wrote: “Heathrow and the airlines that use your airport must be assured, and be able to assure us, that you have in place a plan that can deliver a positive passenger experience through allowing as many people as possible to travel, without too much disruption and queues, and in particular to avoid significant numbers of short-notice and on-the-day cancellations. The Government and the CAA are concerned that current resourcing plans are not delivering this outcome.”