As we’ve been reporting, airlines are reporting long delays to flights due to this nationwide issue at the UK’s National Air Traffic Services – which is responsible for the safe passage of aircraft into, out of, and through the country’s airspace.

Obviously there is never a good time for the air traffic control system to go wrong, but on a bank holiday Monday for much of the UK near the end of the school summer holidays, it couldn’t get much worse.

For many people hoping to fly today it will mean their journey home from overseas will likely be delayed as it’s easier to keep aircraft sitting on the ground rather than coming back to the UK to find their destination airport is full because the aircraft there can’t leave.

And the other concern will be long-haul jets already on their way which will need to land as they will only be carrying enough fuel to hold in the sky for a while while they wait to land.

Given this appears to be a nationwide issue – even processing aircraft needing to divert to other airports will be a challenge. So for now, there will be an awful lot of people facing a long wait to get into the air – and airline and airport staff hoping the technicians fix the problem quickly.