'Scrap the entire system to end air control chaos'

Scrapping the entire air traffic control system is the only way to avoid a repeat of yesterday's chaos, experts warned today.

They believe the system, designed in the Seventies, should be abandoned. The main computer system at West Drayton is thought to have become corrupted during routine tests, stranding thousands at UK airports.

Philip Buttterworth-Hayes, civil aviation editor at Jane's Information Group, said: "The only way forward is to start again."