There were long queues and flight delays at Helsinki Airport on Thursday morning after its baggage system broke down.
The problems started at around 4 am, according to national airport operator Finavia. The issue was caused by a significant IT malfunction in the baggage handling system, according to the company.
However, the baggage handling system was put back into use at around 9:30 am, while bag check-in service started operating normally about a half hour after that, according to Finavia.
"Backup systems were put into use some time ago and currently bags are being forwarded to aircraft relatively normally," Finavia's VP Jani Elasmaa said in the morning.
"The fault was detected almost immediately," Elasmaa said.
Some flights departed before passengers' checked luggage was loaded on the planes.
A large number of abandoned suitcases and other baggage were seen in the departure hall, as they could not be checked in normally. According to Elasmaa, the bags were being minded by security personnel.
Around 5,000 passengers were heading to flights between 5 and 8 am on Thursday.
One of them was Sami Etula, who was on his way to Berlin with Finnair.
He said the airline collected checked bags from its passengers if the departure time of their flights was imminent.
According to Etula, congestion in the departure hall began to ease around 7 am, as the queues started moving forward.
As of 8 am, the queues returned to normal levels. But bags continued to pile up as new passengers arrived for later flights.
"The pile of bags is quite big, but it's comforting that something is being done about it," Ville-Veikko Talvitie said, as he was heading to a flight to Prague.
He was instructed to leave his checked bag with the other luggage in the hall.
"I hope it gets on my plane," he said.
Finavia has advised affected travellers to follow instructions provided by their airlines.
Finnair deals with baggage
Around 2,200 of the bags left in the departure hall belonged to passengers flying with Finnair, according to the national airline.
Finnair's communications chief, Suvi Aaltonen, said there might still be some flight delays in the afternoon, advising departing passengers to get to the airport well in advance of their flights.
However, there will likely be fewer delays in the afternoon than there were in the morning.
The flights of some passengers, including those on Finnair flights, departed without their checked luggage. Aaltonen said that their bags will be delivered to their final destination on the next flight, if possible.
"Some will get their bags today, but it may even take a few days for some items," she said.
Edited to add that the baggage system was restarted and details concerning Finnair flights and luggage.
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