Air traffic control chaos: Halifax holidaymakers speak of being stranded for hours in Turkey airport and share video of chaos as dozens of flights cancelled

Two holidaymakers have shared how they were left stranded at a Turkey airport – one for up to 10 hours with her three young children.

Heidi Marney and her family were supposed to fly from Antalya to Manchester at 2.25pm yesterday (local time)

"Our flight got pushed back to 3.35pm and then 5.45pm and then 7.15pm and then 9.50pm.

"Then 2am and then 6am.

"We finally got told our flight had been cancelled so we had to go get our luggage and get a coach to a hotel which was a half-hour away. I

"It was utter chaos in the airport. But we are just making the most of another day in the sun.”

Another Halifax traveller, Lindon Batley, has shared video footage of the huge queues of passengers waiting to board their flights at the airport he was stuck at, also in Antalaya.

He has been on holiday with his partner, three children, niece and mum and was due to fly into Leeds Bradford Airport shortly before midnight, local time.

"We heard UK air traffic was an issue during the day due to social media and news on the TV,” he said. “We got picked up as normal at 8.45pm from the hotel 30 minutes away.

"We got to the Antalaya airport and had to do a light security check as soon as we got in the door.

"We went to the board and said the queue at the Leeds line and all lines were full – Stanstead ,Manchester, East Midlands, Newcastle that I knew of.

"Next there were many Jet 2 reps, who are our agents, who came over and, as we were in the queue, rumours were going down the line the flight was cancelled.

"Moments later it was confirmed with the rep with a clipboard saying they were trying to find us accommodation for the night – but had no timeframe when, so it was all uncertain.”

He said it took around six hours to gather everyone who should have been on the cancelled flight and board a bus to a new resort.

"Jet2 did an amazing job in difficult times. I didn't see any other operators about.”

The widespread disruption, which led to hundreds of flights being cancelled, was caused by a failure of air traffic control systems which caused more than a quarte of UK flights to be cancelled yesterday.

It is being reported that the knock-on effect could last for days, with backlogs being dealt with and other issues like planes being in the wrong places.