Passengers trying to get between the UK and Channel Islands face hours of delays after a 'network wide' air traffic control failure in the in country.

Travellers at Jersey airport are reporting being told that their flights to the capital and beyond are delayed late into tonight (28 August) and even the early hours of tomorrow.

At lunchtime, the easyJet website showed delays of nearly 12 hours for outbound and inbound journeys.

20,000 passengers were expected to transit through the island’s airport over the bank holiday weekend.

A spokesperson for Ports of Jersey said that passengers should still check in on time.

“Flights are currently arriving in and leaving from Jersey Airport.

We are preparing for possible delays as a result of the Air Traffic Control issues in the UK.”

In a later update, issued around 5.30pm Jersey Airport  said:

We are working closely with UK air traffic control to manage flights in and out of Jersey that have been affected due the technical issue they experienced earlier today. As flight times may be subject to change, Jersey Airport is advising all passengers to check with their airline for the latest information, including when to check in for their flight.

A number of flights from Guernsey are also showing as delayed, including Manchester and Southampton.

Aurigny says that up to 1500 passengers are affected.

Islanders have taken to social media about the disruption.

In a statement, the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it was experiencing a 'technical fault'.

"We are continuing to work hard to resolve the technical issue. To clarify, UK airspace is not closed, we have had to apply air traffic flow restrictions which ensures we can maintain safety."

The glitch was later fixed, but the knock-on impact is set to continue to disrupt hundreds of flights. 

Guernsey Harbours have been approached for comment.

*Story updated at 18:00