Disruption at Stansted Airport following storms

More than 150 Ryanair flights serving Stansted Airport have been cancelled or delayed due to thunderstorms in London and the south-east of England.

Stansted said the storms had led to airspace restrictions which "limited the number of aircraft that can operate" from the airport.

Ryanair has apologised but said the situation was beyond its control.

Passengers reported long delays and sitting on planes that had not moved for several hours.

The airport has advised people planning to travel on Tuesday to check with their airlines, "as some delays and cancellations are possible".

The delays are the latest at the airport which was adversely affected by cancellations caused by storms on Friday.

A total of 70 departing flights across all airlines were delayed between 06:00 BST and 09:00 on Tuesday, equivalent to 84% of the schedule, according to flightstats.com data.

As of 11:30 some 64 arriving and departing Ryanair flights for the whole day were cancelled, representing around 17% of the Dublin-based carrier's services at the airport. A further 89 were delayed.

A spokesman for Ryanair, which has its largest base at Stansted, said: "Ryanair sincerely apologise for these weather and ATC [air traffic control] disruptions which are entirely beyond our control."