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Travel expert Simon Calder has warned of “horrible” knock-on effects for passengers today, with hundreds of flights cancelled already after a major system issue impacted air traffic control on Tuesday. “The knock-on effects today are going to be horrible,” warned Mr Calder, who added that British Airways is already warning passengers that their flights in and out of London Heathrow could be delayed by up to nine hours.

The Telegraph’s travel editor said that there would be “dozens of cancellations” at Heathrow this morning, after flights scheduled to arrive had failed to depart last night. “Every single one of these tens of thousands of passengers have got really important reasons for being where they need to be and it is simply shocking that we have got tens of millions of pounds in costs to the airlines and untold distress for passengers”, added Mr Calder.

More than 250 flights to and from UK airports have been cancelled this morning, according to FlightRadar, as passengers continue to face widespread disruption.

Heathrow has been among the worst affected, with 246 flights cancelled by 6am on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Gatwick passengers were also hit by significant disruption, with 33 cancellations recorded at the airport.

In a statement on social media on this morning Heathrow Airport advised travellers to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

“Following yesterday’s NATS technical issue, flights are operating today, but some disruption may continue as airlines reposition aircraft and crew,” it said.

“Please check your flight status with your airline before travelling to the airport and only travel if your flight is confirmed to be operating.

“We apologise to those affected and have extra colleagues across our terminals to support passengers while we work with NATS and airline partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, flights have resumed from London Gatwick, but the airport has warned it will take time for operations to fully return to normal.

In an update, the airport said: “Flights have now resumed from London Gatwick. However, we still anticipate that it will take time for our operations to fully return to normal.”

Passengers are being advised to continue checking directly with their airlines for the latest information about their flights.

Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said 1,300 flights had been cancelled to and from UK airports on Tuesday after a system issue hit Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.

Airlines have harshly critiqued Nats’ chief executive officer Martin Rolfe after some passengers were left trapped on planes on runways for hours, with some reporting they had no access to food or drink or toilet facilities.

He told Sky News: “I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that.

“What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today.

“You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public.”