British Airways passengers were left stranded on the tarmac in multiple airports in the UK and internationally after a “technical issue” disrupted operations.

The problems, which the airline says have now been solved, started at around 17:00 on Monday, with passengers posting on social media that they were standing in the cold waiting to find out what was happening to their flights.

BA said a problem that affected some of its computer systems had caused the delays.

“We’ve apologised to customers for delays to their flights and ensured they were able to reach their destinations as planned,” the airline said in a statement.

In an earlier update on the disruption, the company said no flights had been cancelled.

Downdetector, a website that logs complaints with websites that are not working, indicated a sharp increase in problems with the BA site after 17:00.

It is not clear how widespread the disruption was, but it was reported to have affected flights globally, as well as some domestic UK flights.

Travel expert and journalist Simon Calder estimated the problems could have affected tens of thousands of passengers, although the delays seemed to be limited to one or two hours for affected flights.

One passenger wrote on X that they were “being made to stand on the tarmac in a very cold Verona waiting for an already delayed flight”.

Travellers in Hamburg, Naples, Lyon and Dusseldorf also reported delays.

Others said they were trying to check in for flights and the “systems are down” or that technical problems had prevented them from booking flights.

Sources within the airline suggest the situation is being brought under control, but there are concerns that delays this evening could have a knock-on effect on Tuesday’s flights.

Some travellers commenting on social media said they had been told that pilots were unable to generate loading data for their aircraft and have been struggling to get through to colleagues by phone.

A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said it was aware of the technical problems at BA, but that its own systems were operating normally.

It is not the first time BA has faced severe disruption due to an IT failure. In May last year, flights were grounded. A similar thing happened in spring 2017, disrupting Bank Holiday plans, and in February 2020.