Computers bring passenger jet chaos

At Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, hundreds of flights have been delayed or cancelled after a huge failure in the computer system controlling airports in the South-East.

The computer crash took place at 4.10pm yesterday but the disruption continued today because of the knock-on effects as airlines struggled to re-schedule flights. Good Friday is traditionallyone of the busiest days of the year. At Heathrow a spokeswoman said hundreds of flights had "experienced delays".

Incoming flights are also subject to disruption. Andy Rozumski, spokesman for Gatwick Airport, said of the computer failure: "There's a lot of inconvenience for passengers who have to find alternative transport. At 4.25pm we were advised by air traffic control there was a problem between computers which went down.

"All our flights after that suffered up to an hour and a half delay. Some airlines cancelled flights. We are expecting a busy weekend so we need everything rectified."

There is no guarantee the computer failure won't happen again.