Hundreds of Heathrow and Gatwick flights were delayed due to the thunderstorm.

The UK’s air traffic control service NATS said “weather disruption is expected to continue for the remainder of the day” after “severe weather is forecast for southeast England”.

A spokesman for London Gatwick told the BBC: “Temporary air traffic restrictions have been put in place due to ongoing thunderstorms on the network last night, which have caused some flights to be delayed and canceled this morning.”

In a statement, easyJet said: “Due to thunderstorms in the south of the UK today, we are experiencing some disruption to our flight schedule like many other airlines and have had to cancel flights to and from Gatwick in advance.

“We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of weather disruptions on our customers and are informing passengers in advance of their options for rebooking or refunds, as well as when they need hotel accommodation and meals.”

The airline said the delays were out of its control but apologized for the inconvenience.

Passenger Cameron Ashwin said he had been grounded on the BA flight at Gatwick since 6pm but was not due to leave until midday due to the storm.

A woman on the X tweeted EasyJet on Saturday morning: “My daughter sat on a flight to Gatwick for 4 hours and now you’ve canceled the flight. She’s on Easyjet holiday. What should she do?”

Another said she was at Croatia’s Pula airport but her Jet 2 flight was reportedly delayed by more than three hours.

Parts of East and South East England remain Very hot this weekendSunday until 09:00 BST with a Met Office amber warning in place for high temperatures – but isolated thunderstorms are also affecting parts of the UK.

Thunderstorms in the south of the UK are expected to intensify on Saturday afternoon.