Stansted Airport: chaos as power outage causes ‘horrendous queues’ and flights taking off without passengers

Chaos has ensued at Stansted Airport after a power outage left passengers delayed, stuck in security and flights cancelled.

Fire alarms rang out at the airport on Sunday (20 August) with the electrical fault leading to dozens being stuck on the fully automated shuttle system between terminals for “almost an hour” and holidaymakers left with little information.

Passengers took to social media showing crowds of people in the terminal and queues on escalators, while others showed people stuck on trains or on the tarmac in arriving planes.

Harry Woodley, from London, told NationalWorld that there were “horrendous queues” at the airport on Sunday with “no one from the airport visible to explain anything”.

He said the only information he could gather “was from other passengers” before finding out there had been a fire alarm and evacuation due to a “complete power cut.”

Mr Woodley said he “queued at security for over an hour” which was “chaotic” as “people who arrived later got through security quicker than those who had already been queuing for an hour due to scanners not working.”

He told NationalWorld that when he finally managed to get through to the gate, where about 30 to 40 other passengers were waiting, he discovered the flight had been cancelled.

He said there were no easyJet staff in attendance, but he found out from ground crew that the flight had been cancelled as it wasn’t profitable as around 100 passengers were stuck in security.

Mr Woodley said he spent an hour arranging an alternative flight to Edinburgh “only to watch the flight we were supposed to catch leave and fly back to Edinburgh empty.”

He added that he was “very surprised” that Stansted Airport “didn’t have an alternative method to update passengers” and “even whiteboards would have been an improvement.”

Posting on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Kemal Göktaş also shared how his flight took off without passengers knowing. He said he was “appalled” and “witnessed a new low”.

He said on X: “We were appalled by the recent experience with @TurkishAirlines. Witnessed a new low today as the flight took off without passengers onboard.

“At London Stansted Airport, a fire alarm triggered system shutdowns at 13.30. Passengers stood by the THY counter, anticipating the systems to come back online. Little did we know... The 16.00 London Stansted - Ankara flight took off at 17.45. Shockingly, the delay announcement reached the passengers at 19.40, after hours of waiting for check-in.”

Mr Göktaş added that there were “no apologies, no clear communication, no compensation discussed for inconveniences caused” and “disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

Another user on X, named Betsy, shared a video of a closed Jet2 gate at the airport after passengers were made to run to catch the flight only to be told it had taken off.

The user posted: “Hundreds of people with no holiday to go on after almost 8 hours at stansted airport. We were made to run to the gate just to be told our flight had taken off without 13 of us !! Only just been offered a bottle of water….”

Stansted Airport said it is “operating as normal” this morning (Monday 21 August) as well as its train services.

It posted on X: “We have successfully restored power to our terminal and rail station and our teams continue to work hard to reinstate normal services. That being said, you should check the status of your flight with the airline and arrive at the earliest time they specify.”

However, Mr Woodley tells NationalWorld that the airport is still “incredibly busy” this morning with “massive queues for check in desks”.

Stansted Airport said it expects around 100,000 passengers to pass through its terminal today.