An independent inquiry will be established following an unprecedented systems failure at the UK’s national air traffic control centre, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said.

The chaos that hit UK airports was clearing last night, with air traffic control company Nats declaring its systems were back to full operational capacity.

Flights are returning to normal at Dublin Airport this morning following disruptions yesterday as a result of a technical fault at an air traffic control centre in England.

Telecoms giant BT was today handed the task of developing a state-of-the-art communications system to cope with heavier traffic in the skies.