Passengers flying to or from the UK on Tuesday faced widespread disruption after a 'technical issue' hit the country's air traffic control system. Flights from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Edinburgh and Birmingham were heavily delayed, with arrivals at Heathrow and Gatwick suspended by Eurocontrol. National Air Traffic Services (Nats) identified an issue in its flight processing system and implemented a fix after several hours of investigation.

The disruption affected hundreds of flights, with aircraft leaving Heathrow delayed by more than two hours. Airline managers warned delays would continue into Wednesday, potentially affecting global schedules. British Airways confirmed experiencing disruption 'entirely out of our control' and is working to get passengers on their way quickly.

Ryanair's operations chief Neal Mc Mahon called for Nats CEO Martin Rolfe to resign, calling the incident an 'abhorrent failure'. John Strickland, an aviation analyst, noted the airspace remains busy at the 'tail-end of summer', making it harder to store additional craft. The incident follows a radar-related issue that grounded hundreds of flights in the UK over a year ago.