A missing pair of scissors paralyzed an international airport in Japan on Saturday. The unusual security situation at New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido caused 36 flights to be canceled and 201 flights to be delayed, the BBC reports. Given that a winter storm left Southwest Airlines in a scheduling crisis nearly two years ago, it’s no surprise that commercial aviation is an operational tightrope walk.
According to One Mile At A Time, the scissors were lost in a store past the terminal’s security checkpoint. As a result, authorities forced every passenger to go through security again in an attempt to find the tool. The second screening was long and tedious, as everyone went through at the same time. However, the scissors were not found, and the airport resumed operations two hours later.
An airport employee found the scissors the next day in the same store where they had gone missing. The scissors were not merchandise, as most airports do not allow sharp objects to be publicly available outside of the checkpoint for security reasons. They were likely a tool used by staff that went missing. An airport spokesperson explained:
“We recognize that this occurred due to inadequate storage and management systems in the store. We are aware that this is also an incident that could be linked to hijacking or terrorism, and will work again to ensure thorough management awareness.”
There was cause for concern, as there was a large influx of passengers flying home from a long weekend in Japan and the country unfortunately has a history of mass stabbings. At least the airport took the credible threat seriously, but you wish they had looked at the story again.
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