Passengers have been warned that travel from Stansted Airport could be disrupted for up to three days after a short-lived protest beside the runway prompted Ryanair to cancel all its early flights today.

Police were drafted in to help keep order in the terminal this morning amid scenes of chaos, as the budget airline told thousands of its passengers to go home and rebook, even though flights had started to resume.

In total 56 Ryanair flights in and out of the airport, based in Essex to the east of London, were cancelled - but the knock-on effect of diverting so many aircraft to other airports was set to perpetuate the disruption. Other airlines using Stansted opted to delay rather than their cancel flights.

An airport announcement warned that there was "limited availability" on all Ryanair flights for the next three days. Later, a spokesman said that Stansted should be operating normally by 1pm.

Times Archive, 1967: Stansted protesters

The demonstration began at Stansted itself, when a specially chartered train filled with 400 local people pulled out for London

• Leading article: Stansted - a real mistake

• Should Government think again on Stansted?

• Stansted 'best of all alternatives'

Related Links

• Stansted runway closed after climate protest

• Intruder arrested on Heathrow runway

• Protesters climb on top of Heathrow plane

Multimedia

• Green Central - I wish I'd been there

• Pictures: Stansted chaos

Disappointed passengers were handed printed sheets listing the cancelled flights, to destinations including Dublin, Prestwick, Frankfurt Hahn, Genoa, Oslo and Berlin, and telling them they could buy a new ticket free of charge.

A furious Ryanair statement laid the blame on the airport authorities for failing to remove the protesters swiftly enough.

"Ryanair will be calling for an investigation as to why the BAA have once again failed to keep Stansted Airport secure and open to the travelling public," it said.

"It is unacceptable that the travel plans of thousands of passengers have been disrupted because BAA Stansted security have failed to remove a number of protesters."

As passengers for later flights mingled with disappointed fliers in a queue that snaked hundreds of feet around the five Ryanair check-in desks, staff were forced to yell questions to passengers in an attempt to get them on planes. One resorted to shouting: "Hands up if you're going to Hamburg."

Passengers reported hearing tannoy announcements warning them not to rely on the computerised message boards, which were displaying false information.

At one point four armed officers were standing by next to the Ryanair desks. A small number of passengers became visibly angry and one man argued with a police officer.

Essex Police said that it was assisting Ryanair staff to ensure that order was maintained, but that security at Stansted was the responsibility of the airport authority.

The disruption started after 54 protesters from the green group Plane Stupid allegedly cut their way through the airport perimeter fence using bolt cutters at 3.15am.

The demonstrators staged a sit-in next to the runway, chaining themselves together behind a makeshift barricade of security fencing. BAA, which runs Stansted, responded by closing the runway as a precautionary measure, citing safety and security concerns.

Police surrounded the group and by 8.15am the protestors had been detained and the runway reopened.

In total 57 people were arrested, 50 of them on suspicion of aggravated trespass, three for attempting to gain access to a restricted area, and four for conspiracy to commit a public nuisance, police said.

Plane Stupid said that it was protesting at the Government's decision to allow Stansted's expansion with a second runway, and the threat of expansion at Heathrow. Air travel was the fastest growing source of emissions, and already amounted to at least 13 per cent of the UK's carbon budget, it said.

A Stansted spokesman defended the airport's actions, saying: “This is a site of about 2,000 acres bordered by a security fence. It is not operated as a fortress.

“The people were spotted very quickly this morning and the police and security staff were quickly on the scene. The first wave was intercepted before they got to the runway. The second wave was intercepted before they got through the fence.”

The spokesman promised that the airport would work with police to learn whatever lessons needed to be learned.

The GMB Union said that it had raised concerns months ago about the poor state of the security fencing around Stansted.

A police review of the security breach has been set up automatically, headed by a detective superintendant.

Times recommends

• Britain's top 10 New Year's Day brunches
• Mozambique's lost islands
• The best things to see and do in 2010