The knock-on consequences of a technical hitch at Heathrow continued to affect Bermuda yesterday as the British Airways flight to the island came in hours past its scheduled time, with flights elsewhere also delayed.

A frustrated homecoming passenger told The Royal Gazette of a six-hour wait stuck on the tarmac on board Tuesday’s BA flight that never left the ground. British authorities said yesterday that more than 2,000 flights ended up cancelled.

The BA159 service to the island yesterday, initially scheduled to leave Heathrow at 10.20am local time, ultimately departed at 1.49pm, according to Flightradar.

It was expected to touch down in Bermuda at 8.40pm, putting the flight 2½ hours beyond schedule.

The island was among a string of destinations facing flight delays and cancellations, according to UK media reports, with Heathrow hit the worst.

The delay was attributed to a technical glitch on Tuesday at NATS, formerly the National Air Traffic Services, Britain's main air traffic control provider.

On its website, the airline said its teams worked throughout Tuesday night to build a new flight schedule “so we're able to operate as many flights as we can, following the significant disruption we experienced yesterday as a result of the NATS outage”.

One passenger expressed dissatisfaction over his treatment at Heathrow on Tuesday when the flight to the island was cancelled.

He said: “While the system failure itself was out of the airline's hands, their utter failure to uphold their duty of care — and their basic humanity — was entirely their choice.”

He said the flight boarded late and once on board, the captain announced a three-hour delay.

The captain was attempting to find a route to the island through French airspace. Six hours later, the flight was cancelled, with passengers told to disembark.

“We were bluntly told that due to the volume of cancellations, we simply needed to grab our bags and get out of the airport,” he added.

When reached for a comment, a BA spokeswoman told the Gazette: “We know this has been a very challenging and frustrating time for our customers, and we're incredibly sorry for the experience they've endured because of an issue that has been entirely out of our control.

“The scale and challenge of dealing with the aftermath of an event like this is severe and complex.

“What this and previous disruption events highlight is the enormous impact customers suffer when one part of the aviation system fails.

“As a business, we’ve long made the case for improved resilience in aviation. We've heard reassurances before, but then we're faced with issues like this yet again.

“Our customers and colleagues are tired of dealing with these issues, time after time. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“Over the coming days, we'll continue doing everything we can until every affected customer is on their way.”

The carrier said during the delay, it rebooked more than 60,000 customers to alternative flights as quickly as possible.

Heathrow said its operations were recovering from the setback.

It stated yesterday: “Flights are operating today, however some knock-on disruption is expected as airlines reposition aircraft and crew.

“Passengers are advised to check the latest status of their flight directly with their airline and to only travel to Heathrow if their flight is confirmed as operating today. We apologise to passengers affected by the disruption.”