London Stansted Airport said early Wednesday that some of its flights would be delayed after a small fire in an airport lounge created smoke that forced the temporary closure of its security area to passengers.
The fire at the airport, north of London, broke out at 3:30 a.m. local time and was quickly extinguished, the airport said on social media. The immediate area was evacuated and the airport’s security area was closed to protect passengers’ health, it said.
At 6 a.m. — 20 minutes after the airport’s first scheduled flight of the delay — the airport said that security had reopened. But an airport spokesman, Mark Davison, said in a brief phone interview that he expected delays.
“There will definitely be delays just because passengers haven’t been able to get to their flights,” he said.
Mr. Davison said the length of the delays would depend partly on decisions individual airlines make about their own flights.
Some train services to Stansted were delayed early Wednesday morning, but Mr. Davison said those delays were not related to the fire.
By midmorning, the airport said in an update posted on social media that it was “taking longer than usual for passengers to pass through the airport.” Rail services to the airport were operating as normal, it added.
Stansted is one of six major airports serving London. Last year it was the third busiest of the six after Heathrow Airport and London Gatwick Airport, according to data from Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority.
Mike Ives is a reporter for The Times based in Seoul, covering breaking news around the world.
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