Chaos caused at UK airports due to ‘technical glitch’

Affected airports include Britain's largest hub Heathrow, as well as Stansted, Cardiff, Glasgow and Dublin in Ireland. The National Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) said its Swanwick centre, in Hampshire, was having ‘difficulty switching from night time to daytime operation’.

‘Engineers are working to rectify the problem as soon as possible,’ said an NATS spokesperson. ‘At night, when it's quiet, we can combine sectors of airspace. When it gets busy in the daytime we split the sectors out again. The voice communications system is  configured to enable this to happen,’ a statement added. Indian airlines, including Air India and Jet Airways, said they have not had to delay any long-haul flights so far but were monitoring the situation. Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton, Luton, London City, Newcastle, Exeter, Bournemouth and other airports have also reported delays.