Airlines scramble to dig out from tech problems that canceled 1,750 flights in the UK

LONDON -- The head of Britain ’s air traffic control system was summoned to a meeting with the country's transport minister as airlines scrambled Wednesday to dig out from the backlog triggered by technical problems that forced the cancellation of more than 1,750 flights.The problems first surfaced on Tuesday, disrupting travel across the U.K. and stranding passengers for hours on airport runways and in terminals. Flight delays were expected to continue through the day Wednesday as airlines rebook stranded passengers and work to reposition aircraft left at the wrong airports by the cancellations. Britain's National Air Traffic Services, or NATS, which operates the air traffic control system, attributed the problems to “an issue in our flight processing system” that has been resolved. Delays rippled across 15 U.K. airports and beyond as airlines and airports worked to clear a huge backlog of delayed flights.In a statement on X, Heathrow, Europe's largest airport, urged passengers to check their flight status before travelling to the airport and to "only travel if your flight is confirmed to be operating.'' “We apologize to those affected and have extra colleagues across our terminal...