Departures from London Stansted Airport are facing delays after a fire in one of the departure lounges – with a signal fault causing chaos for travellers heading to the airport by train.
The fire started in the Escape Lounge at about 3.30am,and while the airport says it was extinguished quickly,the blaze produced a large amount of smoke.
Passengers were evacuated ‘as a precaution’ and also stopped from entering security,which was closed for about three hours and reopened at 6am.
The latest update from Stansted,shared at 9.45am,said: ‘Following the fire earlier this morning in our Escape Lounge it is taking longer than usual for passengers to pass through the airport.
‘Rail services to London Stansted are now operating as normal but there may be some flight delays.
‘The Escape Lounge remains closed,and we will be contacting customers directly who had bookings for today.’
There are long queues to get through security at London Stansted Airport (Picture: X/mrantonio)
‘Passengers are advised to check the status of their flights with their airline and allow extra time for their journeys if necessary.
‘We thank all our passengers for their patience and understanding. We also thank our colleagues for their hard work and dedication this morning.’
Hannah Pierpoint was dismayed to find her flight to Rodez in the south of France had flown without her or many other passengers this morning.
The Ryanair flight was originally due to take off at 6.10am,but ended up leaving at around 6.40am – and she believes it flew completely empty of passengers.
Have you been impacted by this morning’s chaos at Stansted Airport?
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