A spokesperson for NATS (formerly National Air Traffic Services), which operates air traffic control, said: “Due to short notice staff sickness affecting our air traffic control team at Glasgow Airport this morning, we restricted aircraft in and out of the airport for 30 minutes to ensure the operation remained safe and manageable.

“We are now providing a full service and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.”

The two diverted flights eventually returned to Glasgow Airport.

A spokesperson for the airport said: “Operations were suspended between 10am and 10.30am due to a localised air traffic control issue.

“This resulted in a small number of short delays and two inbound aircraft being to divert to Prestwick. Both flights returned to Glasgow Airport.

“We would like to apologise to our passengers for any inconvenience caused and thank them for their patience.”