Heathrow and Gatwick delays live: Fears of more chaos on Wednesday after computer glitch cancels 1,000 flights

In its latest update, Nats said work is continuing to assist airlines and airports in recovering from yesterday’s disruption.

“This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover,” it said.

It apologised for the disruptions and urged people to check their flight’s status before leaving.

Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said 1,300 flights had been cancelled to and from UK airports on Tuesday after a system issue hit Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.

The website added that 177 flights were cancelled early on Wednesday, nearly all of which were at Heathrow Airport.

Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.

The boss of an air traffic control provider will speak to the Transport Secretary on Wednesday as disruption is set to continue.

Flight map from Tuesday, 8 September:

Flight map from Tuesday, 1 September:

Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of Nats, has said the organisation’s systems are fit for purpose follow calls for a review.

He told the BBC that the focus was now “about recovery” and they are “having a full investigation” into what went wrong.

Asked if an incident like this showed Nats’ systems aren’t fit for purpose, he responds: “I don’t think so, no.

“Whilst we never want these things to happen – and I absolutely apologise for the fact it has happened today – I do think we’re fit for purpose.”

He has faced calls from Ryanair’s chief operating officer.

Asked if he was considering his position, he told the broadcaster: “I’m obviously focusing on making sure that we get this solved.

“My focus today has been making sure the team’s in the right place, we have the right resources, the technical issues are being investigated, and the recovery happens.

“There’ll be lots of time for that later, but that’s not now.”

Heathrow said it has suspended arrivals for the rest of Tuesday after technical issues at an air traffic control provider caused huge disruption to flights.

Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, said in a statement that recovery had “taken longer than we had hoped” but the issues had been resolved.

In a statement on X, Heathrow said: “Arrivals into Heathrow have been suspended for the remainder of Tuesday 8 September to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues.

“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.

“We apologise to those affected and are supporting our local NATS team and airline partners as they work through the resulting disruption.”

The boss of Nats has said he accepts “full responsibility” for the technical issue that caused mass disruption to flights across the UK on Tuesday.

Asked on Sky News whether he accepted responsibility for the incident, Martin Rolfe, the chief executive officer, said: “I always accept full responsibility.

“I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that.“

What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today.

“You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public.”

Mr Rolfe has been under fire from Wizz Air and Ryanair after the latest issue which saw some passengers trapped on planes on runways for hours.

Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operating officer, called on Mr Rolfe to resign, saying: “How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure Nats CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?”