BANGOR – Mike Brooker hadn’t even had a chance to turn on the morning news Thursday before he learned something was amiss in the world’s skies.

“I was in the shower when my wife handed me my cell phone,” said Brooker, tournament director of the Senior League World Series, scheduled to start Sunday at Mansfield Stadium. “It was the guy from Belgium telling me their flight had been canceled and they were still in Brussels.”

The Waterloo Little League All-Stars from Brussels, Belgium, champions of the Senior League’s EMEA (Europe-Middle East-Asia) region, were slated to be bused to Bangor on Thursday after taking an early trans-Atlantic flight from Heathrow Airport in London to Boston’s Logan Airport.

But the team never reached London as scheduled, as Brooker learned during his 7 a.m. phone call that the Belgian contingent’s British Airways connecting flight from Brussels to Heathrow was cancelled after British authorities said they thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft bound for the United States, using explosives smuggled in hand luggage.

As a result, Heathrow was closed to most flights from Europe, and British Airways canceled all its flights between the airport and points in Britain, Europe and Libya.

Brooker said alternate arrangements have been made for the Belgian team, which now is scheduled to fly via Lufthansa on Friday, first from Brussels to Frankfort, Germany, and then from Frankfort to Boston. The Belgian party is scheduled to arrive in Boston at 8:05 p.m., Brooker said.

“All we can do now is wait,” he said.

The heightened state of alert at all airports in the aftermath of the uncovered terrorist plot has meant delays at virtually all airports, meaning that the six teams yet to arrive in Boston, Portland or Bangor by plane for the SLWS likely will face longer waits before being transported to the teams’ quarters at the Holiday Inn-Odlin Road.

“We’ll have the buses at the airports when they’re supposed to be there,” Brooker said.

One team, Asia Pacific champion Makati City, Philippines, is already in Bangor after flying in to Portland International Jetport late Wednesday night, Brooker said.

The Belgian team and Latin America champion Falcon, Venezuela, are both slated to fly in to Boston on Friday, the Venezuelans as originally scheduled and Belgium according to that team’s revised flight plan.

Two teams, U.S. East champion Bloomfield, N.J., and the U.S. Central winner, will fly directly into Bangor on Saturday.

Three other teams, U.S. South champion Yorktown, Va.; U.S. West champion Pearl City, Hawaii; and U.S. Southwest champion Tulsa, Okla.; are scheduled to arrive in Maine via Portland International Jetport, the Hawaiian team Friday and the other three teams Saturday.

The final traveling team, the Canadian champion, will bus from its regional in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, to Bangor, Brooker said.

In additon to travel concerns, weather delayed the completion of one regional Thursday, as the U.S. Central final between host Peru, Ill., and Madison, Wisc., was held up by rain ,with forecasts for inclement weather to continue well into the night, Brooker said.

A U.S. Central champion must be crowned by Friday morning in order to make flight arrangements from Illinois to Maine, but Brooker said that as of late Thursday afternoon officials at that regional were attempting to wait out the storm.

The U.S. Central final was one of three regional championships slated to be completed Thursday.

Bloomfield, N.J., won the U.S. East title with a 13-5 victory over Camden, Del., at West Deptford, N.J.

Bloomfield entered Thursday’s championship round as the only undefeated team in the region, having won three straight games – including an 11-1 decision over Maine champion Coastal All-Stars of Hancock County.

Camden, Del., dropped its second game to host West Deptford, N.J., but rebounded with four straight wins to advance to the finals, where it needed to defeat Bloomfield twice to advance to the SLWS.

Bloomfield’s victory marks the sixth straight year the New Jersey state champion has won the U.S. East regional, with South Vineland, N.J., advancing in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and Freehold Township reaching the SLWS in 2004 and 2005 – winning the 2004 series championship.

Thursday night’s Canadian final pits Regina, Saskatchewan, against Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.