Passengers at Gatwick Airport are continuing to face delays and cancellations, after a technical issue affecting the UK's air traffic control system caused widespread disruption.

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said its system issue had been resolved, but warned that it was still working to clear a backlog of flights.

In an update at 7.30pm on Tuesday (September 8), NATS said: “Recovery from today’s system issue has taken longer than we had hoped.

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

Passengers have described being left stranded, without luggage and facing hours-long delays after a technical issue with the UK's air traffic control system caused widespread disruption at Gatwick. Photo: Eddie Mitchell

placeholder image — Passengers have described being left stranded, without luggage and facing hours-long delays after a technical issue with the UK's air traffic control system caused widespread disruption at Gatwick. Photo: Eddie Mitchell

“We are truly sorry for the ongoing flight disruption. We know this is hugely frustrating and apologise unreservedly.”

The issue has also reportedly affected other major UK airports, including Heathrow, Stansted and Manchester.

NATS advised passengers to ‘continue to check with their airline’.

Earlier, NATS said it had ‘implemented a fix’ and ‘our flight system is starting to recover’.

The disruption has affected thousands of passengers – including those travelling with British Airways (BA) and Ryanair.

The latter airline revealed that more than 50 of its flights have been cancelled, while over 65,000 passengers have been delayed by up to eight hours.

In an update posted at 6pm, BA advised: “While NATS has informed us that their air traffic control system fault has been resolved, the severity of the issue means there will be a significant knock-on impact on our customers and colleagues.

“We were forced to cancel over 100 flights on Tuesday afternoon, inconveniencing tens of thousands of our customers.”

The airline said this was an ‘incredibly frustrating experience’ for customers and colleagues – with a ‘number of our aircraft and crews now out of place’.

It added: “We’re doing everything we can to keep our customers updated and make arrangements for them to continue their journeys.”

The airline also said passengers whose flights had been cancelled should ‘not travel to the airport’.

British Airways added: “If you no longer wish to travel today or tomorrow, you can move your flight for free up until Friday 11 September.

“If your flight has been cancelled, please check ba.com for the latest information we can offer you.”

British Airways said customers could also use its chat service to speak directly with a member of its Customer Care team, or call 0800 727 800 from inside the UK or +44 (0)203 250 0145 from outside the UK.

Gatwick Airport said earlier that it was aware of the NATS technical issue.

The airport advised passengers to check with their airlines for information about their flights.

The disruption has resulted in widespread delays and cancellations, with Gatwick's arrivals and departures continuing to be affected by the knock-on impact of the earlier technical problem.

NATS said passengers should continue to check directly with their airline for the latest information.