Goa, Sept. 9 -- A major air traffic control system failure disrupted air travel across Britain on Tuesday, with more than 1,000 flights cancelled and thousands of passengers left stranded for hours at airports and onboard aircraft.

According to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, the disruption affected at least 15 airports across the United Kingdom, with delays continuing even after the technical issue was resolved.

Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it had fixed a problem with its flight-processing system by Tuesday evening. However, the failure triggered a major backlog, forcing airlines and airports to work through hundreds of delayed and cancelled flights.

At London Gatwick, passenger Josie Donoghue said she sp...