Hundreds of thousands of passengers across the United Kingdom and beyond found themselves in the middle of chaos after the breakdown of the UK's air traffic control system.

NATS, the national air traffic controllers, based in Swanwick in Hampshire,&nbsp;said their system had failed. However, hours laters, the issue was fixed.

Several passengers took to social media to say they were stuck on planes on the tarmac waiting to take off on what is a busy travel day due to Monday's public holiday in parts of Britain.

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Flightradar24 showed hundreds of flights stranded in the UK airspace | Flightradar24

Britain's National Air Traffic Services said it was experiencing "technical issues" and has "applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety".

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We are aware of reports that UK airspace is experiencing delays due to technical difficulties in the UK air traffic control system. Below is what we know so far from NATS. 
 
"We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain… <a href="https://t.co/IJYAwIhJbL">pic.twitter.com/IJYAwIhJbL</a>
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) <a href="https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1696124248119517556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2023</a></blockquote>
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"Engineers are working to find and fix the fault. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause," it said.

It remains unclear how long it would take to fix.

Journalist Gabby Logan also said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that&nbsp;she was on a plane on a runway at Budapest airport, and had "just been told UK airspace is shut", adding, "We could be here for 12 hours".

Scottish airline Loganair said on X that there remains&nbsp;a network-wide failure of UK air traffic control computer systems.

Later, the issue was fixed although Britain's National Air Traffic Service (NATS) said that the disruption would continue for some time.

"It was fixed earlier on this afternoon. However, it will take some time for flights to return to normal, and we will continue to work with the airlines and the airports to recover the situation," NATS Operations Director Juliet Kennedy said in a video posted on its website.

"Our absolute priority is safety and we will be investigating very thoroughly what happened today," he added.&nbsp;

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Hundreds of thousands of passengers across the United Kingdom and beyond found themselves in the middle of chaos after the breakdown of the UK's air traffic control system.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers across the United Kingdom and beyond found themselves in the middle of chaos after the breakdown of the UK's air traffic control system. NATS, the national air traffic controllers, based in Swanwick in Hampshire, said their system had failed. However, hours laters, the issue was fixed. Several passengers took to social media to say they were stuck on planes on the tarmac waiting to take off on what is a busy travel day due to Monday's public holiday in parts of Britain. Flightradar24 showed hundreds of flights stranded in the UK airspace | Flightradar24 Britain's National Air Traffic Services said it was experiencing "technical issues" and has "applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety". We are aware of reports that UK airspace is experiencing delays due to technical difficulties in the UK air traffic control system. Below is what we know so far from NATS. "We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain… pic.twitter.com/IJYAwIhJbL — Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 28, 2023 × "Engineers are working to find and fix the fault. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause," it said. It remains unclear how long it would take to fix. Journalist Gabby Logan also said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she was on a plane on a runway at Budapest airport, and had "just been told UK airspace is shut", adding, "We could be here for 12 hours". Scottish airline Loganair said on X that there remains a network-wide failure of UK air traffic control computer systems. Later, the issue was fixed although Britain's National Air Traffic Service (NATS) said that the disruption would continue for some time. "It was fixed earlier on this afternoon. However, it will take some time for flights to return to normal, and we will continue to work with the airlines and the airports to recover the situation," NATS Operations Director Juliet Kennedy said in a video posted on its website. "Our absolute priority is safety and we will be investigating very thoroughly what happened today," he added. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

UK airspace shuts down after breakdown of air traffic control system

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UK airspace shuts down after breakdown of air traffic control system