More than 1,000 flights were cancelled across the UK after a major air traffic control technical failure caused widespread disruption, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

The problems hit airports across the country on Tuesday, September 8, with Heathrow and Gatwick among the worst affected.

More than 1,000 departures from UK airports were reported cancelled, while some aircraft heading for London were forced to divert because of congestion in the capital’s airspace.

Birmingham, Manchester and Belfast were also among airports reporting disruption.

Passengers faced hours sitting on aircraft and in terminals as airlines attempted to deal with the knock-on effects.

Ryanair said around 65,000 of its passengers had been delayed by as much as eight hours.

The disruption was linked to a technical problem affecting NATS, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.

NATS later confirmed that the problem had been identified in its flight processing system.

The company subsequently announced that the technical fault had been resolved but warned that clearing the huge backlog of flights was taking longer than hoped.

NATS said: “Our system issue is now resolved, we are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights.

“We are truly sorry for the ongoing flight disruption. We know this is hugely frustrating and apologise unreservedly. Passengers should continue to check with their airline.”

The problems left passengers stranded across the country, with reports of disruption at Luton, Manchester, Cardiff, Exeter and Bristol as well as the major London airports.

Some travellers spent several hours on aircraft before eventually being told to disembark.

Ryanair sharply criticised NATS following the failure, with chief operations officer Neal McMahon describing it as “yet another UK ATC system failure” and calling on the Government to intervene.

Heathrow later suspended all arrivals for the remainder of Tuesday as the airport attempted to safely manage the disruption.

Departures resumed, but airport officials warned passengers that significant delays were expected to continue.

Heathrow said: “Departures have resumed, but disruption is expected to continue, so we advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling to the airport.”

Passengers due to fly on Wednesday are being advised to check directly with their airline before travelling as carriers work through the backlog caused by the failure.