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The transport secretary Heidi Alexander said she is “seeking assurances that lessons will be learned†following the air traffic control issue that has led to at least 600 flight cancellations so far.

“Pleased @NATS have fixed the issue, and huge thanks to those working to get people movingâ€, she said in a post on x.

“It will take time to fully resume flights, so continue to check with airlines.

“I am seeking assurances that lessons will be learned and systems that support aviation are up to the job.â€

With more flights facing delays or cancellations, Britain's airports are heaving with passengers, many of whom are crowding around departure boards, hoping for signs that their flight may leave the country this evening, or waiting in queues to speak to staff about their next steps.

Here are some pictures from around the country:

A note for readers with travel plans this evening: while “a fix†has been implemented after air traffic control issues, airports are still dealing with the fallout and many flights are still being impacted.

British Airways urged customers whose flights have been cancelled not to travel to the airport and said they can make changes to their booking on ba.com. Ryanair and easyJet tell passengers to check its website for updates.

Another update from Flightradar24, which says that 625 flights have been cancelled at airports in the UK over the air traffic control issues.

The flight-tracking tool said this included 218 easyJet flights and more than 130 British Airways airlines.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “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 for customers and colleagues.

“We were forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights on Tuesday afternoon, inconveniencing tens of thousands of customers.

“This incident was entirely out of our control and incredibly frustrating for our customers and colleagues, with aircraft and crews ending up out of place.â€

Passengers on a British Airways flight from London to Shanghai were turned around and forced to disembark at Cardiff airport after the place faced a “technical issueâ€, according to Flightradar24.

The flight, which departed Heathrow at 12:03pm was over Romania before it turned back to the UK. It landed in Cardiff just before 5:30pm, more than five hours after its departure.

It's likely the plane did not return to Heathrow over to the air traffic control issues, according to Flightradar24.

Passenger Chi Chen travelled from Bristol to Heathrow airport as he was meant to be flying to Naples to meet a friend.

The 43-year-old said he made it all the way through security before discovering his flight was cancelled.

“I was due to be flying out at 6.15pm (on Tuesday),†he told the Press Association. “They only announced the cancellation at around 3.30pm.â€

He said British Airways emailed him offering an alternative flight at 6.05am on Thursday, which involved flying to Brussels first. “I can't accept it,†he said.

The number of flights cancelled amid travel disruption has now exceeded 400, as NATS said its flight system is “starting to recoverâ€.

Some 425 flights were cancelled to and from UK airports as of 5pm following the issue, flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said.

NATS said earlier in a statement: “We have implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover.â€

A look at Heathrow's live departure board hints at the scale of the disruption. While a number of green flights are still marked as “on timeâ€, there are many that have simply been cancelled, leaving passengers scrambling for solutions.

It's not just UK airports that have been disrupted either; flights that hoped to land in the country have also faced delays or cancellations.

One social media user earlier wrote: “Venice to Bristol EZY2832, all been dumped off a plane back to the gate with zero communication. Already 3 hours delayed, what's the plan?â€

Passengers have vented their frustrations on social media about the delays to their flights, stating there had been “zero communication†from airlines.

One woman told EasyJet on X: “I appreciate it is difficult, but the lack of communication at Alicante re delays is abysmalâ€.

Another user said: “Flight from Porto to Gatwick cancelled. No sign of any easyJet staff for those that have gone through security and need to leave the airportâ€.

Shortly after 4.45pm, one man told the airline: “Stuck on runway at Gatwick still after meant to take off at 2:20pm. At least EasyJet have offered us a snack of up to value £2.80! Can't even buy any food or beverages and I'm starvingâ€.

Many social media accounts messaged the airline with their flight numbers requesting updates, one account saying: “Venice to Bristol EZY2832, all been dumped off a plane back to the gate with zero communication. Already 3 hours delayed, what's the plan?â€

Some departures from Newcastle Airport have been delayed amid the flight disruption, according to a Newcastle Airport spokesperson.

“We are aware of a technical issue affecting Nats which is impacting some flights at airports across the UKâ€, the spokesperson said in a statement.

“While some departures from Newcastle are experiencing delays, our operations have not been affected to the same extent as those at some airports in the south of the country.

“Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight information.â€

Nats said its flight system is “starting to recover†after a fix was implemented following a technical issue.

In a post on X, it said: “We have implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover.

“We are continuing to work closely with our airline and airport customers on recovery.

“We apologise sincerely for the disruption to people's journeys today and they should continue to check with their airline.â€

Time for a quick recap…

Flights around the UK are facing delays and disruption due to an air traffic control issue which has affected a string of airports including Heathrow and Gatwick, and recovery may take time.

According to aeroplane tracker Flightrader, there have been “nearly 300 cancellations so far this afternoonâ€, with British Airways and easyJet most affected.

Departures from London airports are most severely affected, with few take-offs since a fault was reported early on Tuesday afternoon.

The air traffic control service Nats said at 1.46pm that it was “investigating a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departuresâ€.

Nats added: “Our engineers are on site and we will provide an update as soon as we can. We apologise for the delay this will cause to journeys, passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight.â€

The UK's biggest airport, Heathrow, said planes were continuing to arrive, although Eurocontrol said some inbound flights were being held at airports abroad, with disruption likely to continue until the evening.

Nats later added that its engineers are “working urgently†to fix the problem, but warned that “recovery will take some timeâ€.

Ryanair has revealed that 65,000 of its passengers have been delayed up to 8 hours, and called for the head of Nats to quit.

Here's our news story on the disruption:

I'm handing this blog over now to my colleague Charlie Maloney.

Flightrader 24 has posted on X:

Nearly 300 cancellations so far this afternoon as NATs systems return to normal.

British Airways: 96

easyJet: 92

KLM: 20

Lufthansa: 12

Swiss: 11

Nearly 300 flights have been cancelled as a result of the UK air traffic control issue, FlightRadar24 has said.

The worst affected airports are Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham.

The air tracker found 352 flights to and from Heathrow were delayed out of its daily average of about 1,300.

Meanwhile 281 Gatwick flights were delayed out of its 850 total operations average. This was 249 out of 650 for Manchester, and 101 out of 300 for Birmingham, the Press Association report.

Budget airline Ryanair has blasted “overpaid failing NATS CEO Martin Rolfe†over today's disruption, and demanded (not for the first time) that he quits his job.

According to Ryanair, over 65,000 of its passengers have been delayed today, with more than 50 flights cancelled, after today's air traffic control technical problems.

Ryanair COO, Neal McMahon, says:

“How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns? Over three years after NATS' catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it's clear that nothing has changed, with UK passengers once again suffering avoidable ATC delays of up to 8 hours today due a critical NATS ATC system failing. Families travelling on holiday, people travelling for work and thousands of visitors to the UK have once again paid the price for NATS' abhorrent failure.

The astonishing part is that NATS continues to charge airlines and passengers more each year while delivering a worse service. Following the 2023 collapse, we were told lessons would be learned. We were told “resilience would improveâ€. We were told the systems had been fixed. Yet here we are again. This is a pattern of repeated failure with Rolfe in charge getting paid over £1.4m in bonuses p.a. while he delivers failure after failure.

The UK Government, the CAA and the NATS Board must stop making excuses for repeated NATS failures and appoint a new leader capable of running the UK ATC system without repeated failures. Its time for overpaid failure Martin Rolfe to go.â€

Back in March, Rolfe argued that the criticism over the 2023 technical meltdown was unfair, as Nats had only suffered four incidents in 12 years.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has posted on X about the disruption, saying:

I'm aware of a technical issue impacting flights at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick. Technicians have identified the issue and are fixing it as we speak.

I know this will be frustrating for passengers and I'm sorry. Please check with your airline for latest advice.