Updated
An IT problem is causing chaos at Australia’s international airports, with significant delays in processing inbound and outbound passengers sparking long queues.
Key points:
- Passengers in Sydney have reported delays of almost two hours to clear immigration in Sydney
- The IT problem has plagued every international airport in Australia
- Brisbane Airport said the problem was affecting all electronic passport gates
Passengers have been posting photos of long queues from the international terminals in Sydney — where people were forced to wait for around 90 minutes — and Melbourne.
However, every international airport in the country has been affected.
In a statement, the Australian Border Force (ABF) said it was working with the Department of Home Affairs to resolve an “IT systems outage”.
“Additional ABF staff have been deployed to process passengers and to minimise delays,” the statement read.
“Passengers are encouraged to arrive at airports early to allow additional time for processing.”
Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) said the ABF outage was affecting all electronic passport gates.
ABC reporter Francene Norton, who was travelling from Brisbane Airport, said the line was so long it was almost outside.
“I was walking and walking trying to find the end of the queue and I kept walking and walking and there were people lined up everywhere,” she said.
“I was virtually out into the car park before I found the end of the queue.”
Former ABC reporter Annabelle Regan, who landed at Sydney Airport this morning, said she could not see the end of the queue she was in.
“It feels like we’re going to be here for a while … emergency supplies [like water] are coming out.”
Celebrity chef Adam Liaw was caught up in the chaos and said there were “thousands of people” stuck in queues.
“Airport staff [are] doing a great job despite a lot of tired and grumpy passengers,” he said.
ABC journalist Monte Bovill said the queue he was in at Melbourne Airport was more than 200 metres long.
“We just got off our plane from Vietnam, landed in Melbourne, and just as we got off the plane we joined the queue to get through immigration,” he said.
“On the loudspeaker … they explained that the processing system was down and they’d have to manually process people coming from international flights.”
The outages at Brisbane started just after 6:00am, and a BAC spokeswoman said additional staff had been brought in but warned “delays will be lengthy”.
A Perth Airport spokeswoman said systems had been affected by the outage, but it was yet to cause any delays.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed many of the airline’s outbound international flights at Melbourne and Sydney were delayed by about 30 to 45 minutes due to passengers being stuck in processing queues.
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