Passengers heading home to Luton stranded overnight after UK air traffic control failure
A technical fault grounded 1,300 flights across the country in a single day
Holidaymakers trying to get home to Luton were left stranded overnight after a technical failure hit the UK's air traffic control system.
Around 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled, with tens of thousands of passengers caught up in the disruption.
Our reporter Callum McIntyre was among those stuck, having been due to fly home to Luton from Tenerife South Airport.
He described confusion at the airport as passengers tried to find out what was happening.
"At the moment, there's just so many people not knowing what's happening tonight, where they're going, where they're going to stay," he said.
"It's just a bit chaos, really, because people don't know what's happening."
He said so many flights had been cancelled that airline staff were finding it difficult to arrange hotels for everyone affected.
'They've not been too great with their communication'
Kim Needham, from Ivinghoe in Buckinghamshire, was also trying to get back to Luton when her flight was hit.
She said she had only just been told her journey home had been pushed back to the next day.
"I only just got a text through from Jet 2 saying that the fight was delayed until tomorrow, which was something that I knew about an hour ago," she said.
"So they've not been too great with their communication."
Despite the frustration, she said there were worse places to be stuck.
"But on the bright side of life, there are worse places to be stranded," she said.
"Tenerife is a lovely place. The sun's out. Life could be a lot worse."
Callum said passengers had been helping one another as they waited for news, with some in tears, including a person trying to get home to prepare for the start of university.
Luton Airport 'open and operational'
Luton Airport confirmed early on Wednesday that it was open and running.
But it warned passengers that some disruption could continue.
"Some flights may still be subject to disruption and passengers are advised to check their flight status directly before travelling to the airport," the airport said.
What caused the disruption
Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, said a system issue in its flight processing system caused the problems.
The company said the fault was later resolved, but warned recovery would take time.
"This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover," Nats said.
Airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted were among those affected, according to flight monitoring website Flightradar24.
A further 177 flights were cancelled early on Wednesday, nearly all of them at Heathrow.
Air traffic control boss faces questions
Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe said he took "full responsibility" when asked if he was considering his position.
"I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that," he told Sky News.
Ryanair's chief operating officer Neal McMahon called on Mr Rolfe to resign.
"How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure Nats CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?" he said.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is due to speak with Mr Rolfe on Wednesday before addressing MPs in the Commons.