Stansted Airport outage: Flights cancelled and delayed as IT issue causes chaos for travellers

A major UK airport has said it is "working hard to fully restore operations" after an IT meltdown caused flights to be cancelled and delayed this morning.

Large numbers of people have been seen queuing up outside the terminal at this morning amid a wave of disruption to services, with the technical issues also preventing passengers progressing through check-in, baggage, and security. One passenger caught up in the "chaos" said on that he had seen many fellow passengers who had "given up and gone home" after being left waiting for several hours, causing them to miss their.

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A video from inside the terminal shared by Good Morning Britain's Anne Alexander showed large crowds both inside and outside the airport.

Anne said "massive" queues were also leading up to the Ryanair desk, meaning that those who "couldn't face" waiting to rebook in person would be forced to book a new flight at their own expense.

The queue was said to be so long that it stretched into the queue for check-in, causing further confusion.

Anne said she eventually ended up missing her flight due to the amount of time she spent waiting.

A statement from Ryanair said affected passengers will be informed via the airline's official app, and suggested the issues at the airport had been caused by an "internet outage."

The spokesperson said: "Due to an internet outage in Stansted on Sun 11 May, we are monitoring delays for flights operating to/from Stansted Airport. Affected passengers will be notified via the Ryanair app.

"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this internet outage, which is outside of our control."

Describing tense scenes among frustrated passengers, another person wrote on X (formerly ): "The airport is chaos, staff don't know what to do, people are sending passengers to the wrong drop off - tensions are high as they struggle to find order.

"Most flights are struggling to get their bags loaded into the planes due to 2 belts being operational."

Others criticised a lack of information provided to passengers, claiming they had been at the airport for around two hours before hearing any announcement.

Bosses at the airport said the disruption had been caused by an "IT issue".

While this is now said to have been fixed, passengers have been advised to check ahead with their airline to see whether their flights are still going ahead.

An update from London Stansted Airport just after 8am 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."

An earlier statement from the airport confirmed that "a number of airport systems" had been affected by the issue, including "check-in, baggage and security."

It added that the IT problem also meant that "arrivals and departures may be subject to delays".