While we’ve heard of airports temporarily halting operations due to security situations, this has to be one of the strangest such incidents we’ve seen…
Hokkaido Airport closes due to lost scissors
This incident happened on Saturday, August 17, 2024, at New Chitose Airport (CTS) in Hokkaido, Japan. Shortly after 10AM local time, a store in the departures area (past security) reported that a pair of scissors had gone missing. This incident somehow sent the airport into lockdown mode.
Operations at the airport were halted, and passengers already airside had to once again clear security, to be screened for the scissors. The scissors were never found, but the airport ended up resuming operations roughly two hours later, around 12PM local time.
In total, 35 flights were canceled as a result of this incident, and 190 flights were delayed. This was an especially bad weekend for something like this to happen, given that it was a busy holiday travel period, so flights were packed.
What a strange airport security situation
Typically when we see an airport halt operations over a security concern, it’s because someone has a gun, or there’s a bomb threat, or something along those lines. In this case, I’m confused how a missing pair of scissors could cause such a drastic response.
For example, at airside restaurants, you typically won’t find any sharp knives (like steak knives) for diners, since those wouldn’t be allowed through security. Sometimes there will be knives for the chefs, but they’re tied to surfaces, so that they can’t be removed.
In this case, did a shop just have a “loose” pair of scissors for use by staff, and then the employees noticed they were missing? Or how does a pair of scissors that was allowed in the airside area to begin with cause such a situation? It’s also interesting how they just gave up after not being able to find anything for two hours. It was serious enough to shut down the airport, but not for more than two hours?
Bottom line
It was a rough weekend at New Chitose Airport in Japan, after a pair of scissors went missing from a shop. This was reported to authorities, which caused a situation where all passengers had to be screened a second time, and operations were suspended for two hours. In the end, 35 flights were canceled, and nearly 200 flights were delayed.
What do you make of this Japanese airport scissor situation?