UK air traffic control glitch grounds nearly 300 flights. Photo credit: ReutersA technical problem with Britain’s air traffic control system disrupted flights across the country on Tuesday, with more than 1,000 flights canceled, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said the issue was linked to its flight processing system. Engineers were working to restore normal operations after the problem affected airports across the UK.British Airways said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights. Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had canceled more than 50 scheduled flights.“The severity of the issue means there will be a significant knock-on impact,” a British Airways spokesperson said.“This incident was entirely out of our control and incredibly frustrating for our customers and colleagues, with aircraft and crews ending up out of place," the spokesperson said.Several passengers said on social media that they had remained stuck on aircraft for hours before their flights were cancelled. Others complained about poor communication from airlines during the disruption.Airports affected included London Stansted and London City, along with Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick and airports in Scotland. Passengers were urged to contact their airlines and check their flight status before travelling.EasyJet said some of its flights were “unable to operate” because of the system failure and warned of “delays to flights across Europe.”At Heathrow, the airport’s website showed multiple cancellations and delays involving short-haul flights to European destinations.