LONDON: The British government was working with airlines on Tuesday to help ensure passengers stranded in airports across Europe can get home after an air traffic control glitch caused widespread disruption to flights that is expected to last for days. More than 1,500 flights were cancelled on Monday a public holiday in parts of Britain and one of the busiest travel days as the school holidays draw to close when air traffic controllers were forced to switch to manual systems due to a technical problem.
That left thousands of passengers stuck at airports in Europe and further afield.
Transport secretary Mark Harper warned it would take days to resolve the issues. He said government officials did not believe that the problem was the result of a cyberattack.
PM Rishi Sunak said the transport secretary was in touch with all the industry participants. “He will be talking to airlines and making sure that they support passengers to get home as quickly as possible,” Sunak added.