The aircraft are from the A320 family - used by numerous airlines - and need a systems update before they can fly again.

Airbus issued the alert on Friday after analysis of a flight involving an A320 showed "intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls".

On Saturday, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said UK airlines had worked overnight to carry out the update where needed and assured the impact to passengers in Britain would be minimal.

It is understood the incident that triggered the warning involved a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark in the US on 30 October.

That flight was diverted to Tampa International Airport after it suffered a flight control issue and experienced a sharp loss of altitude, which injured at least 15 passengers.

An Airbus spokesperson told Sky News the software change would affect up to 6,000 planes.

The fix involves A320 aircraft reverting to an earlier software version and Airbus stressed it would only take two to three hours for most planes.

However, some jets will also need new hardware and therefore will be affected for longer, it said. Industry sources estimated about 1,000 aircraft could be in this position.

Passengers have been told to expect "limited" travel disruption over the weekend.

America's aviation watchdog has issued an emergency order to immediately replace or modify the software, mirroring one from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

'Very concerning'

Gatwick said a "small number" of carriers based there were affected, but warned disruption was still possible. It urged passengers to contact their airline.

Heathrow and Luton airports said they were not expecting any disruption.

"The good news is it seems the impact on UK airlines seems limited, with a smaller number of aircraft requiring more complex software and hardware changes," said Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.

She said it was "heartening this issue has been identified and will be addressed so swiftly".

Airbus is understood to have traced the issue to the ELAC (Elevator and Aileron Computer) system, which sends commands to elevators on the plane's tail. These in turn control the aircraft's pitch or nose angle.

Travel expert Simon Calder said the situation was "very concerning" but stressed "aviation remains extraordinarily safe".

He warned customers might not be entitled to compensation if they're delayed as the issue would be considered out of airlines' control.

Read more:
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What have airlines said?

• EasyJet said it had already completed the software update on lots of aircraft and is working closely with safety authorities. "We plan to operate our flying programme normally on Saturday and ask that customers travelling continue to monitor their flights on flight tracker," it added. The airline said some adjustments to the schedule could be necessary and advised passengers they will be informed of any changes by email, SMS, or the flight tracker.
  
• British Airways said it was not expecting any problems and only three of its planes were affected.
  
• American Airlines - the world's largest operator of the A320 - has faced more significant problems, with 209 of its 480 A320 plans needing an update, and the issue coming on a huge travel weekend stateside as many people return home after Thanksgiving. However, updates were due to be completed for the majority of its aircraft on Friday and Saturday, the airline said. Some delays are expected but safety is the "overriding priority" and "it's all hands on deck" to deal with the issue, a spokesperson added.
  
• Wizz Air said on Saturday that the software update had been implemented on all its affected A320 family aircraft overnight, with no further disruption anticipated.
  
• Aer Lingus said only a limited number of planes were affected, with "immediate" steps being taken to complete the required software installation. It said it was not expecting any significant operational disruption.
  
• Air France said it was cancelling 35 flights.
  
• Air India, which has 113 impacted aircraft, had completed the software fix on 42 aircraft by Saturday morning. It said it expected some flight delays but no cancellations.
  
• All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airline, cancelled 65 domestic flights on Saturday.
  
• United Airlines said it expected minor disruption to a few flights, with only six aircraft affected.
  
• Lufthansa, a German airline, said it expected a small number of flight cancellations or delays over the weekend.
  
• Jet2 said it was "installing software updates on a very small number of aircraft" in its fleet but said there would be no impact to its schedule.

Airbus, which is registered in the Netherlands but has its main headquarters in France, is one of the world's biggest airplane manufacturers, alongside Boeing

The A320 is the world's bestselling single-aisle aircraft family, according to the Airbus website.

The Environment Agency has 35 flood alerts in place for rivers in England, while Natural Resources Wales has another 10 in force as of midday on Saturday. Alerts mean flooding is possible.

It comes as the Met Office has a yellow weather warning in place for rain in the East Midlands, North East England and Yorkshire and Humber on Saturday.

Up to 30mm could fall "fairly widely", the agency predicted, with as much as 60mm possible over higher ground. A yellow warning for ice is also in place for large parts of northern England overnight into Sunday.

Check the weather forecast where you are

There is also a yellow warning for rain on Monday covering North West England, Hampshire, South West England and Wales.

Up to 40mm is likely to fall quite widely for Derbyshire, North West England, and Yorkshire and Humber, and there could be as much as 120mm in a few places over the Cumbrian fells, the Met Office said.

In South West England, there could be up to 50mm "across the higher parts of Exmoor, Dorset, the Mendips and Cotswolds".

Also for Monday, there is a more serious amber warning for rain in South Wales all day, with 120mm possible in a few places.

Homes and businesses could be flooded, the agency said, and there may be travel disruption and difficult driving conditions.

England and Wales normally averages just over 100mm of rainfall for the entire month of November.

Jason Kelly, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "There is a clear signal for strong winds and periods of heavy rain, which could lead to surface water flooding and delays to road and rail travel.

"Rain will also push into North East England during Saturday, some of which could fall as snow over higher ground when the system meets colder air coming down from the north.

"Sunday will be drier and brighter, albeit colder, for many areas with blustery winds lingering near some North Sea coasts. Expect widespread frost overnight into Monday before the next weather system approaches."

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Next week, the weather is expected to remain changeable, with occasional dry spells.

Homes across Scotland left without power

It comes after homes across Scotland were left without power following severe gales overnight.

The Met Office had issued a yellow weather warning for wind, covering Orkney, Shetland and western parts of the Highlands and Argyll and Bute, which expired at 11am on Friday.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said gusts reached 83mph on the Western Isles and 75mph on the Isle of Mull.

A spokesperson said around 1,000 homes on the Isle of Mull were without power by mid-morning on Friday, but most have since been restored.

Pope Leo joined the imam at the 17th-century Ottoman-era mosque, officially called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

The trip marked part of the third day of his first overseas visit as head of the Catholic Church. From Turkey, he will travel to Lebanon on Sunday.

After the mosque visit, Leo held a private meeting with Turkey's Christian leaders at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem.

While the Vatican had said Leo would observe a "brief minute of silent prayer" at the Blue Mosque, the imam said the Pope declined.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, Asgin Tunca said he had told the Pope: "It's not my house, not your house, (it's the) house of Allah."

The imam added that he told the pontiff: "'If you want, you can worship here,' I said. But he said, 'that's OK.'

"He wanted to see the mosque, wanted to feel (the) atmosphere of the mosque, I think. And was very pleased."

Later, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said: "The Pope experienced his visit to the mosque in silence, in a spirit of contemplation and listening, with deep respect for the place and the faith of those who gather there in prayer."

The Blue Mosque is officially named after Sultan Ahmed I, leader of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 to 1617, who oversaw its construction.

It is decorated with thousands of blue ceramic tiles, which is the basis of its popular name.

Leo is the latest pontiff to visit the holy site, with his recent predecessors Pope Francis and Pope Benedict also making visits in a gesture of respect to Turkey's Muslim population.

Observing etiquette, Leo removed his shoes and walked through the carpeted mosque in his white socks.

However, he did not visit the Hagia Sophia, one of the most important historic cathedrals in Christianity and located just across from the Blue Mosque.

In July 2020, Turkey converted Hagia Sophia from a museum back into a mosque, which was criticised by the Vatican.

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The Pope is set to end Saturday with a Catholic Mass in Istanbul's Volkswagen Arena for the country's Catholic community.

A religious minority, there are around 33,000 Catholics in Turkey, which has a population of more than 85 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslim.

Under the new rules, taxi use for medical travel will be restricted to "exceptional" cases such as physical disability, pregnancy or serious illness - and these will require government approval.

Ms Mahmood made the announcement after a BBC investigation found "widespread" use of taxis by asylum seekers, including for long journeys - with one case involving a 250-mile trip to see a GP.

Transport for asylum seekers has cost the government an average of almost £16m a year, according to reports.

All service providers will be required to stop using taxis for medical journeys from February next year and the government is now working to help introduce alternatives such as public transport.

"This government inherited Conservative contracts that are wasting billions of taxpayers' hard-earned cash," the home secretary said.

"I am ending the unrestricted use of taxis by asylum seekers for hospital appointments, authorising them only in the most exceptional circumstances.

"I will continue to root out waste as we close every single asylum hotel."

Taxi drivers said the system was open to "abuse", accusing sub-contractors of inflating mileage, for instance by dispatching drivers over long distances to perform much shorter journeys.

One told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he had been dispatched from Gatwick to take an asylum seeker more than 50 miles away in Reading to an appointment only 1.5 miles from his hotel. A second driver was reportedly sent from Heathrow, about 30 miles away, to bring the same man back from the appointment.

The policy change comes after a Home Office review of transport arrangements for asylum seekers, it is understood.

Asylum system overhaul

It comes after a raft of measures to overhaul the asylum system was set out by Ms Mahmood earlier in November.

In an interview with Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby, she admitted the UK's illegal immigrant numbers were "too high" - but said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage could "sod off" after he claimed she sounded like a Reform supporter.

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The "restoring order and control" plan includes:

• The removal of more families with children - either voluntarily through cash incentives up to £3,000, or by force;
• Quadrupling the time successful asylum seekers must wait to claim permanent residency, from five to 20 years;
• Removing the legal obligation to provide financial support for those who have the right to work but choose not to;
• Setting up a new appeals body to significantly speed up the time it takes to decide whether to refuse an application;
• Reforming how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is interpreted in immigration cases;
• Banning visas for countries refusing to accept deportees;
• The establishment of new safe and legal refugee routes.

The home secretary told MPs it is an "uncomfortable truth" that Britain's generous asylum offer, compared with other European countries, is attracting people to the UK - and for British taxpayers the system "feels out of control and unfair".

However, the wide-ranging reforms have drawn criticism from Labour backbenchers.

Nadia Whittome MP called Ms Mahmood's plans "dystopian" and "shameful", while Richard Burgon MP said she should change course rather than be forced into a U-turn later.

So far this year, some 39,292 people have made the journey across the Channel, already more than last year's numbers, but still below the total for the record year of 2022.

A statement from United Agents said: "We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family.

"He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language.

"It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him."

Sir Tom's entertainment career spanned more than six decades, in which he won a host of Tony and Olivier awards, as well as the Golden Globe and Academy Award with Marc Norman for their 1998 screenplay Shakespeare In Love - starring fellow Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow.

His work, known to blend intellect, emotion and humour, often explored philosophical and political themes, challenging societal norms to remind audiences of the power of thought.

His other award-winning plays included Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing and Travesties.

The playwright also wrote prolifically for TV, radio, and film, including adapting Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina for the 2012 film starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, and TV series Parade's End with Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall - adapted from novels by Ford Madox Ford.

He received countless accolades and honours during his career, including being knighted by the late Queen for his services to literature in 1997.

He won the David Cohen Prize For Literature in 2017, following in the footsteps of laureates Harold Pinter, Hilary Mantel and Seamus Heaney.

Sir Tom released his semi-autobiographical work titled Leopoldstadt in 2020 - set in the Jewish quarter of early 20th century Vienna - which later won him an Olivier award for best new play and also scooped four Tony awards.

The play also saw him honoured by PEN America, the literary and human rights organisation, which handed him the Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award for the West End play, which featured his son Ed Stoppard.

From refugee to playwrighting sensation

Sir Tom was Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia, but fled and changed his name amid the Nazi occupation, finding refuge in Britain.

He became a journalist in Bristol in 1954 before becoming a theatre critic and writing plays for radio and TV, including The Stand-Ins, later revised as The Real Inspector Hound, and Albert's Bridge first broadcast by BBC Radio.

His career took off with hit play Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966, before it was produced for the National Theatre and on Broadway, winning four Tony awards in 1968 including best play.

Sir Tom began advocating on behalf of Soviet and Eastern Bloc dissidents after writing Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, a play inspired by his friendship with Viktor Fainberg, who had been imprisoned in Czechoslovakia by the Soviets.

Much later, in 2002, his trilogy of plays set in 19th century Russia, The Coast Of Utopia, were staged at the National Theatre.

His most recent plays include Heroes, Rock 'n' Roll and The Hard Problem.

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