A power surge at Stansted Airport has caused major disruption, with passengers reporting waits of up to two hours at security and immigration checks. The outage, which affected the airport and the surrounding area, left luggage belts out of action and slowed security processing to a fraction of its usual speed.
Passengers describe 'total systemic collapse'
Travellers took to X to share images of hundreds of people queuing at London's third-busiest airport. One user described the situation as a “total systemic collapse”, noting that luggage belts were not working and that there was no guarantee they would see their bags again or make their flight, which was due to depart in two hours.
Another passenger said that after two hours, the airport's tannoy finally made a public announcement that electrical systems related to baggage, security and immigration were not working, but that staff were trying to fix the issues. The same user added that passengers were thanked for their patience, but that the announcement should have been made earlier.
Airport confirms systems affected
A spokesperson for Stansted Airport said that due to an earlier power surge affecting the airport and local area, a number of airport systems were temporarily impacted. While most systems were back in operation, some remained affected and were not operating to full capacity, including security and baggage systems.
The spokesperson added that teams were working hard to restore all services and support passengers on their journeys through the airport. Residual delays were expected while systems continued to recover.
