ADVERTISEMENTAuthorities at London's Gatwick Airport have said a security alert that forced the evacuation of one of the terminals and delayed dozens of flights has been "resolved and cleared by police".
The South Terminal was closed at 11:55CET on Friday morning after police were called to investigate a ‘suspected prohibited item’ found in luggage earlier that morning.
Sussex Police said a bomb disposal team made the package safe and two people briefly detained during the investigation were allowed to continue their journeys.
The terminal reopened to passengers and staff at about 16:00CET, the airport said in a statement, but advised passengers to still expect some delays.
Passengers have been advised to check the status of their flight with their airline before heading to the airport.
The airport's north terminal remained open throughout the security alert.
About 100,000 passengers were scheduled to fly into and out of Gatwick, Britain's second-busiest airport, on Friday but many had to deal with long delays.
Nejadeen Braham was supposed to fly to Jamaica to pick up her children but said she couldn’t get into the south terminal.
"I saw everybody coming (out) from one direction," she said.
"I was supposed to go inside, drop my bags and go through security. When I got here, I saw everybody coming down."
Travellers faced long lists of delayed and cancelled flights on airport information boards.
Outside, long lines of arriving passengers waited for taxis, while others resorted to walking or hitchhiking when they discovered the heavily used airport train station was also closed by the security alert.
Several carriers, including BA and Norwegian reported delays.
Spanish airline Vueling ordered inbound flights from Barcelona and Seville to turn around and return to their point of departure.
The security alert at Gatwick was one of two that rattled London on Friday.
ADVERTISEMENTA road near the US Embassy was also shut down on Friday morning as police investigated a suspicious package found in the area.
London's Metropolitan Police Service said it carried out a controlled explosion of what was later determined to be a “hoax device.”
The embassy said it resumed “normal business operations” at about 14:00CET, although all public appointments were cancelled for the day.