London Stansted Airport said on Wednesday some of its early morning flights would be delayed after a small fire in an airport lounge created smoke that forced the temporary closure of its security area to passengers.
The fire at the airport, north of London, broke out at 3:30 a.m. local time and was quickly extinguished, the airport said on social media. The immediate area was evacuated and the airport’s security area was closed to protect passengers’ health, it said.
At 6 a.m. — 20 minutes after the airport’s first scheduled flight of the delay — the airport said that security had reopened. But an airport spokesman, Mark Davison, said in a brief phone interview that he expected delays.
“There will definitely be delays just because passengers haven’t been able to get to their flights,” he said.