IAG, the parent group of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia
File photo: British Airways passenger aircraft are pictured at London Heathrow Airport, west of London. Image Credit: AFP

British Airways has grounded flights flying from the United States owing to a technical fault, according to media reports and tweets from stranded customers.

Affected passengers and relatives have resorted to Twitter to complain about long airport wait times. It's not immediately clear how many flights or passengers were affected.

British Airways has apologised for the delays which it says are due to "technical glitch" with its third-party flight planning partner, BBC reported.

The situation is currently being investigated, and the airline indicated that it is attempting to get flights operational as quickly as possible.

On Twitter, travelers reported waiting times of over three hours at JFK International Airport. Others claimed they had spent hours sitting on parked airplanes on runways before being transported back to the airport.

In a statement to BBC, British Airways said: "Our flights due to depart the USA tonight are currently delayed due to a technical issue with our third-party flight planning supplier, which we are urgently investigating.

"We're sorry for any disruption this will cause to our customers' plans, our aim is for these flights to depart as quickly as possible."

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