A pair of scissors. Nothing more. Nothing less. A simple pair of commercial scissors was enough to shut down one of Japan’s major airports, disrupt its schedule for two hours, cause hundreds of upset passengers, and cause a handful of flights to be delayed or suspended altogether. The incident is estimated to have affected around 240 operations in total. What’s most interesting is that the scissors were not used to attack anyone or threaten airport security in any way. They disappeared from a store.

The story had a happy ending. Or almost.

Where are my scissors? A similar question was asked by shop assistants at the domestic terminal of New Chitose Airport in Hokkaidō Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday morning. A pair of scissors disappeared without anyone being able to explain exactly how, when or where they went missing. Or so it seemed. In the vast majority of businesses in the world, such an incident would be nothing more than anecdotal, but at the Chitose terminal, no such incident occurred.

Why is this? For various reasons. First, because the rules stipulate that the scissors must be kept safe and locked at all times. Second, the store they disappeared from is no ordinary store. It is located after the security checkpoints, near the boarding gates where passengers access their flights, leaving one nagging question as to what happened… but what if someone had taken them on a plane to use?

Two hours interrupted. So unexpectedly and to the surprise of many passengers, the New Chitose Airport authorities had to rethink the day. They suspended security checks for access to the terminal for about two hours, forcing passengers who had already passed them to retrace their steps and pass through the detector belts again.

All this is to ensure the safety of the airport, which operates the Tokyo-Sapporo route, one of the world’s busiest domestic routes, with more than 15 million passengers passing through in 2022. Saturday was no ordinary day in the country either: many Japanese were returning home after the Bon holiday.

Cancelled flights and delays. This didn’t just change the airport’s organisation. It also affected airlines planning to operate from the Chitose domestic terminal. The balance, as the BBC revealed, is astonishing: although controls were only suspended for two hours, the measure affected hundreds of passengers, causing 36 flights to be cancelled and 201 operations to be postponed.

The British chain also spoke of “massive bottlenecks and queues”, with passengers already waiting in the departure lounge having to collect their luggage and return to the area where security staff were waiting for them.

Did the scissors appear? Yes, but we had to wait. The incident disrupted airport security for several hours, but the controversial scissors didn’t show up until the next day, Sunday, when a store employee found them. Not many details have been released about where they were or how they might have gone missing. Japanese media outlet NHK reported that they were found after another search of the store. Of course, it wasn’t until Monday that the announcement was made to confirm in advance that the scissors were missing.

Warning… and explanations. The incident was serious enough that the Japanese Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism called airport officials to ask them to do two things: investigate what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The Hokkaidō terminal publicly assumed that the cause was “inadequate storage and management system” at the warehouse, and did not address the incident.

“We are aware that this is an incident that could also be linked to hijacking or terrorism, and we will work again to ensure comprehensive management awareness,” those responsible assure. There are those on the network who believe that the airport’s quick and strong response demonstrates its safety. “The incident demonstrated the safety of Japanese aviation and the thoroughness of its protocols,” said one X user.

Image | Miki Yoshihito (Flickr)

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