When we get there we're supposed to start our tour this afternoon, it clearly looks like that will be wiped out, I'm only going for four days.". Gillian Gowar, a company director from Derbyshire, said that she was concerned the delays would "wipe out" part of her mini break."I'm going to Rome with Alitalia, I'm going on holiday. They face a huge upheaval as moves to upgrade and combine existing air traffic control centres are put in place, along with the operational changes which have already been made."The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kenneth Clarke, was putting a brave face on delays yesterday as he waited in terminal two for a flight to Milan from Heathrow airport."My experience of flying between London and Milan has never been very happy and I just resign myself to fate that I will have to spend half a day here before I can get off the ground," Mr Clarke said.But for many others the frustration clearly showed. That took around an hour during which time controllers were once more handling flights manually. It was found that the system was not functioning properly so engineers decided to switch it off at around 7am to "reboot it". British Airways was forced to cancel 32 flights, 20 of them at Heathrow, five at Gatwick and seven at regional airports.Delays continued throughout yesterday, although airlines reported that the timetable was getting back to normal last night and indicated that there should be no disruption today at a peak time for holiday flights.The problem emerged when engineers switched on the main flight processor at West Drayton after testing new software during the night.

Problems with the antique software caused similar chaos in 2000 and 2002.During yesterday's hour-long shutdown from 7am to 8am, controllers continued to handle inward flights manually, but many out-going services were severely disrupted. A glitch in an ageing air traffic control computer yesterday caused chaos for thousands of passengers as flights were delayed and, in some cases, cancelled. The data processing system at the control centre in West Drayton, West London - parts of which are 30 years old - was only down for an hour, but long queues built up at check-in desks. "It is very much a patched-up system and that doesn't help," he said "It's a little like adding new bits to an old car.". Now it will only assume full control by 2012.Tony Collins, executive director of Computer Weekly, said that although West Drayton's hardware was new, the software was not. In summer 2000 the system at West Drayton collapsed twice in eight days, causing more than 100 flight cancellations involving all the main airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast and others in Scotland.

In spring 2002 it crashed twice in two weeks, causing chaos for thousands of passengers.Swanwick should have opened in 1996, but software problems meant the complex did not begin operations until January 2002. It was envisaged that the Hampshire centre would then take over from West Drayton over the following few years. It is no longer in production and many younger computer technicians have simply not heard of it.Engineers have been forced to make do and mend at the west London centre because the modern air traffic control complex at Swanwick in Hampshire is hopelessly behind schedule and only partlly operational.West Drayton still handles air traffic over south-east England and flights at London's main airports. It also provides information for controllers at the Hampshire centre, which is responsible for airspace over the rest of England and Wales.Yesterday's computer problems were by no means the first.

Parts of the computer system at the air traffic control centre at West Drayton are more electronic archaeology than state of the art. Liverpool recently announced a deal with the American online degree provider Sylvan Learning Systems, and plans to become the UK's biggest provider of online degrees The university currently offers the MBA and a MSc in IT. To download a brochure, visit g.mccann independent.co.uk. The course is arranged around small online "classes", and some assignments involve collaboration between only three to five students, "so you are a name, not a number," says spokeswoman Christina Bell. Modules are delivered one at a time and last six to eight weeks, but students are able to take breaks when work or personal commitments demand it. West Dean offers eight other postgraduate diplomas - six in conservation and restoration (books, ceramics, clocks, antique furniture, fine metalwork and buildings interiors and sites), as well as tapestry weaving and making early stringed musical instruments. See .uk for more details.* People with full-time jobs, international students, disabled people and working mothers are taking MBAs at Liverpool University - via e-learning.