Police have arrested and cautioned a man for common assault after an incident on board a plane waiting to take off from Heathrow.

A 24-year-old woman flight attendant had been assaulted on the British Airways flight bound for Barbados.

The flight was delayed by nearly two hours.

Officers were called to Terminal 3 at 12:40pm on Monday.

A 24-year-old man was arrested and subsequently cautioned for common assault, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

The flight attendant was not injured, the police added.

Airline lobbyist Willie Walsh has criticised transport secretary Grant Shapps for having blamed the aviation industry for hundreds of cancelled flights.

The director-general of the International Air Transport Association said Mr Shapps has been “absolutely useless in his approach to the coronavirus crisis”.

He also said, at a conference in Paris on Tuesday: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, as minister of transport, he’s done nothing for the industry.”

Mr Walsh, a former chief executive officer of British Airways parent IAG SA, said earlier in a panel debate that Mr Shapps – who heads the Department for Transport (DfT) – didn’t know what he was talking about when it came to aviation.

The DfT said in comments emailed to Bloomberg that the sector received £8 billion of support during the pandemic.

The government has also said that airlines cut too many jobs during the pandemic, had failed to plan for the eventual recovery of travel demand, and had sold too many passenger tickets.

The government is under mounting pressure to add aviation jobs to its Shortage Occupations list – reducing hurdles for EU workers to help fill gaps at overstretched airports and airlines.

What is causing the disruption? Simon Calder reports:

Union members at Network Rail and 13 train operators will stage 24-hour walkouts on 21, 23 and 25 June.

What could the effect be? And are other disputes on the horizon?

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:

British Airways has cancelled 122 short-haul flights to and from its main base, London Heathrow airport on Wednesday.

The Independent calculates 22 domestic flights have been grounded, including two round-trips from Heathrow to Aberdeen, Belfast City, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Simon Calder and Helen Coffey report:

On top of flight disruption in the UK, travellers could be hit rail strikes later this month.

Tens of thousands of railway workers are to stage three days of national strikes, in what their union says will be the biggest walkout since 1989.

My colleagues Helen Coffey and Simon Calder report:

Manchester Airport is in “disarray from start to finish”, a passenger has said as he posted a video appearing to show scores of unclaimed suitcases overflowing from a carousel.

Paul Quinn uploaded the video to Twitter on Wednesday morning.

There has been severe disruption at the airport this week due to staff shortages.

A union representing aviation workers in Italy is threatening more industrial action if its demands are not met, in a move that could cause more travel holiday chaos for Britons planning an escape to the Mediterranean this summer.

The Italian Union of Transport Workers, one of the unions involved in today’s strikes, said it would not hesitate to take further action if the government refuses to take action on various issues including pay, sick leave and holidays.

“This will be only the first of a series of protest actions”, the union warned.

Got a burning question about the UK’s ongoing travel chaos?

As rail unions threaten strikes which would add to the misery, Simon Calder, our expert travel correspondent, will be on hand later today to answer all your questions in an ‘Ask me anything’ event.

He will respond to your questions from 4pm. Put your queries in the comments section of the article below and Simon will get to as many of them as possible:

Disappointed passengers are taking to social media after their flights have been cancelled.