THOUSANDS of passengers have been left stranded after more than 1,000 flights were cancelled yesterday due to a major tech outage across UK airports.

A further 250 flights have already been cancelled to and from UK airports this morning, with Ryanair confirming more than 65,000 of its passengers have been impacted.

Passengers have been stranded at airports after a major tech outage across UK airports Credit: Sarah Holt

Travellers have reported being stranded in multiple destinations including Tenerife and Corfu Credit: Getty

The air traffic control issue emerged around 1pm yesterday, with NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe commenting that there will be a “very, very thorough investigation” into the technical problem behind the widespread disruption.

Though he “ruled out” a cyber attack as the cause.

Sign up for the Travel newsletter

Thank you!

And due to the huge disruption, this has had a knock on affect with Brits trying to get home, due to a lack of flight availability.

NATS said the glitch has been resolved but warned that delays are expected to continue as it tries to “clear a backlog of flights”.

Read more on travel inspo

SEA IT
All 25 of the English Riviera beaches ranked from best to worst – by a Devon local

TRAVEL TIP
The £2.99 SIM hack that can save Brits HUNDREDS abroad

Some have been told they could be stuck abroad until next week.

One family wrote on Facebook that they they were not getting flights back to the UK until September 16 – and to a different airport.

Another said: “Due home last night. Arrived at airport, checked luggage in and told flight cancelled.

“The flight was cancelled at very short notice, and the alternative flight offered was a whole week later, 16th September.”

A passenger in Lisbon, who was due to fly home yesterday evening (Tuesday), said some of her group were unable to get flights home until as late as Friday, they told Jattvibe Travel.

One disgruntled passenger posted on X: ” Two cancelled hotels, €390 (£334.92) down. And now we can’t get a flight home until SATURDAY to SOUTHEND airport.

Some passengers even had to wait hours on planes Credit: Getty

More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled already Credit: PA

“Car is parked at Luton where we flew from. Been told we have to pay for another 3 days holiday [and] transport from Southend to Luton ourselves.”

Hundreds of other travellers have taken to social media platforms to share that they are stuck abroad, with other destinations including Tenerife, Spain, Corfu, Greece and Paris, France – and as far as Seoul and the US.

Others have been stranded in UK airports and some have even sat on planes for hours before moving on.

Passengers affected are being advised to contact their airline, and keep any receipts for hotels and food and drink booked to reclaim later.

Here is everything you need to know about getting compensation – and it isn’t the best news if you’ve been affected.

And we’ve listed all the UK airports still affected by the ATC outage.

Jattvibe Travel weighs in on ATC issues

By Sophie Swietochowski, Assistant Travel Editor
THE last time we saw an air traffic control problem such as this was last year, when a NATS radar system failed.
It was only a 20-minute outage but the knock-on effect was catastrophic.
An even more dramatic air traffic control issue arose on the August bank holiday weekend in 2023.
It was something as simple as a small piece of incorrect data that triggered a mass system failure, lasting a matter of hours.
Despite the small time frame, hundreds of flights were forced to divert to alternative airports outside of the country and UK airspace capacity was reduced by about 90 per cent.
For this period of time, routes had to be processed manually as opposed to the automatic operations ordinarily relied upon, and the ripple effect was huge.
Thousands of holiday plans were put on hold and holidaymakers were left unsure of whether or not they would be flying or how their trip would be affected.
The current situation is sure to have a pretty major knock on effect with air traffic control problems causing bottlenecks further down the line.
Flights arriving and departing will be impacted with trips to European destinations likely affected as low cost airlines operate multiple routes a day.
It’s not possible to predict how long the difficulties will last or how major the impact will be, but it is a good sign that planes aren’t completely grounded at this stage.
While the airlines are not directly responsible for the chaos, they do have a duty of care to their passengers.
Taking out decent travel insurance is typically the best way to safeguard your holi