Pair of missing scissors leads to delays and cancellations at Japan airport

TOKYO — A missing pair of scissors caused more than 200 flights to be canceled or delayed at one of Japan’s biggest airports.

Staff at a store in the New Chitose Airport reported the missing item Saturday, according to a news release from the airport’s operator, Hokkaido Airports Co. Ltd.

As a result, officials at the facility in the northern Hokkaido prefecture, decided to temporarily suspend all flights, close security checkpoints and conduct security inspections, the release added.

At total of 201 flights — 129 departures and 72 arrivals — had been delayed, the news release said. A further 36 had been canceled, the news release said.

Passengers who had previously been screened had to be re-screened, and security checks were suspended for approximately two hours in order to assure safety, it added.

The scissors were found by an employee at the store the day after they went missing after a search, the company said, adding that it had delayed announcing the scissors were lost until it had verified they were the same pair.

“This incident occurred due to insufficient management by the store tenant,” the news release added. “We are committed to investigating this incident, determining its cause, and preventing its recurrence,” it added.  

The investigation will continue because the scissors have to be taken out of a locked storage locker every time they are used, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.

Among those delayed was the Japanese rock band 9mm Parabellum Bullet, which was unable to perform at the Rising Sun music festival in Hokkaido because its plane was canceled.

Apologizing to fans in a statement on the festival’s website, the band said, “We will definitely get our revenge!!”

Other travelers, some of whom were stuck on board planes, voiced their displeasure on social media, although others praised staff for the way they handled the situation.

“I know it must have been a real scramble to get through the security check and get off the plane at Shin-Chitose, but the clerk should be commended for properly reporting the loss of the scissors, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them,” one person wrote on X, using the handle @ryosuke1942720.  

Arata Yamamoto reported from Tokyo, and Charlotte Kwan reported from Hong Kong.