The cancellations on Wednesday (April 3) stretch across much of the UK. The BBC reports five flights from Belfast City airport have been pulled, along with four from Birmingham.

Departures from Southampton, Aberdeen, Manchester, Edinburgh and Newcastle have also been cancelled, with hundreds of passengers taking to social media to vent their frustration.

Flybe is citing “operational reasons” for the disruption to its flying schedule and has apologised to affected customers.

"All customers affected have been emailed and advised they can rebook for travel on an alternative flight or apply for a full refund," said the airline in a statement.

It is understood passengers were informed by email or text message on Tuesday night (April 2) warning them of the frustration.

It comes after the carrier’s new Heathrow-Newquay service got off to a troubled start on Monday (April 1) when the aircraft scheduled to fly the route suffered a technical hitch.

Passengers were bussed six hours to London, or otherwise offered alternative flights. The flight was the first after Flybe switched its Newquay-London route from Gatwick to Heathrow.