Scissors lost at airside store in Sapporo lead to over 200 delays and cancelations

Sapporo New Chitose
Lost scissors led to a major disruption at Sapporo New Chitose Airport.

A pair of scissors lost at an airside store at Sapporo New Chitose yesterday, August 17, 2024, led to the closure of security checkpoint and the rescreening of all passengers. As a result, approximately 30 flights were canceled and approximately 200 flights were delayed.

After discovering that the scissors were lost at around 9:30 a.m., Sapporo New Chitose’s operator Hokkaido Airports discussed the issue with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism before closing security checkpoints at around 10:20 a.m. While the scissors have not been found yet, the security checkpoints reopened approximately two hours later.

Due to the possibility of someone having taken the scissors passengers on board aircraft waiting for departure had to get off to be rescreened. Similarly, those that were in the gate area waiting to board their flights had to go through security check again.

The incident led to delays ranging from an hour or two to up to four or five hours depending on the flight, as well as to some flights being canceled. Some flights from Sapporo to Tokyo and vice versa arrived well past midnight, leaving some passengers stranded at the airports overnight.

Operations returned back to normal from this morning.

This disruption came just a day after a typhoon led to the cancelation of nearly 1,000 flights in and out of Tokyo.

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