Is Stansted Airport closed? Are departure and arrival flights operating, is security open - latest updates after fire

London Stansted Airport in Essex said there was a "small fire" in its Escape Lounge, leading to a "significant amount of smoke" at 03:30 BST on Wednesday. A spokesperson said it was quickly extinguished by the airport fire service and there were no reports of any injuries to passengers.

Travellers were stopped from entering security for a time. Passengers were evacuated to the departure lounge as a precaution and barred from going through security, and the airport said at the time that departures have been suspended until later this morning.

At 06:00 security had reopened, but the airport warned there could be delays and urged passengers to check the status of their flights. At 6:30am Stansted Airport posted on X that the departure lounge is now open and passengers are being processed through security.

It added: “Flights were not suspended and both departures and arrivals are operating. Some flights may be subject to delays.” However one user on X said it is “disgraceful”.

The user wrote: “Absolutely disgraceful that you're only saying now that flights have been operating while there has been no access to the airport.” At 5:01am the airport had posted on X that “no flights were due to depart until later this morning”.

To add further chaos to travel around Stansted Airport this morning, there’s a signalling fault which means all train lines running to and from the airport are blocked. Trains could be cancelled or delayed.