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 - but 38 flights have been cancelled at Heathrow this morning.

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.

A technical issue at Swanwick air traffic control centre in southern England is causing delays to some flights at airports in Ireland and in the UK.

The British national air traffic control computer system crashed at 6am today and flights were being operated manually by air traffic controllers, British Airways said.