A missing pair of scissors brought an international airport in Japan came to a standstill last Saturday. The unusual security situation in New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, 36 flights had to be cancelled and 201 flights were delayed, the BBC reports. In the face of a winter storm Southwest Airlines Given that planning collapse occurred nearly two years ago, it is not surprising that commercial aviation today is something of a balancing act.

The scissors disappeared from a shop behind the terminal’s security checkpoint. to One Mile At A TimeAs a result, the authorities forced every passenger to go through security again to find the device. The second check was lengthy and tedious, as each immediately through the checkpointHowever, 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 shop where they had disappeared. The scissors were not goodsas most airports do not allow sharp objects to be publicly accessible beyond checkpoints for security reasons. These were probably tools used by staff that have gone missing. An airport spokesperson explained:

“We recognise that this is due to inadequate storage and management systems in the store. We recognise that this is also an incident that could be linked to kidnapping or terrorism and will again work to ensure full management awareness.”

There was cause for concern considering there was a large influx of passengers flying home after a holiday weekend in Japan and the country unfortunately has a history of mass stabbings. The airport at least took the credible threat seriously, but one wishes they had looked into the story more closely.