Flights at Stansted Airport were thrown into chaos this morning after an IT fault brought key operations to a standstill — leaving passengers facing long queues, missed flights and major delays.
The technical issue affected check-in, baggage handling and security, forcing thousands of holidaymakers to queue for hours. Although airport authorities say the issue has now been resolved, delays are still being felt across the terminal.
Images from the scene show snaking queues stretching throughout the airport, with some travellers waiting outside the terminal just to get in.
STANSTED AIRPORT CHAOS: IT FAILURE SPARKS MASSIVE QUEUES, MISSED FLIGHTS
— Turbine Traveller (@Turbinetraveler) May 11, 2025
Thousands of passengers stuck in long lines at London Stansted this morning after a major system failure hit check-in, baggage & security. Some gave up and went home.
The airport says the issue is resolved,… pic.twitter.com/QT7hxqbCcD
One passenger, Anne Alexander, shared her experience on X, saying: “Some people are queuing outside just to get inside the airport terminal.
“Some have given up and gone home as they have missed their flights.
“Many passengers in the queue – including me – have flights leaving in the next 15 mins. And we are still in the security queue.”
Stansted Airport has apologised for the disruption and said staff are working to get passengers through the terminal as quickly as possible.
In a statement on X, the airport said: “Our teams are working hard to fully restore operations following the IT issue that impacted our systems earlier this morning.
“While the issue has been resolved, some flights may still be subject to delays.
“We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and advise passengers to check the status of their flights with their airlines before travelling to the airport.
“We hope to have all systems fully resolved soon and will provide another update shortly.”
Around 15,000 departing passengers transit through Stansted on a usual Sunday morning, a spokesperson for the airport said.
“All systems have now been fully restored and no flights have been cancelled as a result of the IT issue,” the spokesperson added.
“We are investigating the cause of the earlier issue so nothing confirmed at this stage but, for background, it looks like it was related to internet access for some systems.”
