Sydney Airport meltdown – travellers told to stay away
Sydney Airport is in a state of chaos, with major technical problems throwing a spanner in the works for holidaymakers at two of the airport’s major terminals.
Hundreds of passengers have seen their travel plans thrown up in the air by the issue, which affected the T1 international and T2 domestic terminal. The T3 Qantas domestic terminal and inbound flights to Sydney have not been affected.
After some frustration, passengers have slowly started to move through the check-in desks but both terminals have massive queues and the sheer backlog of passengers still waiting to be processed is expected to cause delays throughout the day.
Sydney Airport confirmed this in a statement on Twitter.
Virgin Australia has also responded to passenger concerns, saying there were currently being processed by at a significantly “reduced capacity”.
“Due to a technical issue at Sydney Airport’s domestic and international terminals, guests are being processed through security at a reduced capacity,” the airline said.
“We are holding flights to minimise any disruption to passengers, and working to re-accommodate affected guests.”
Fairfax reports a power outage is believed to be behind the issue.
Passengers have been advised to contact their airlines to confirm flight schedules, but many in line are the terminal are starting to lose patience with the situation.
“Calling people for the first 4 flights to ‘proceed immediately to security’,” said one passenger at the T2 domestic terminal.
“Like there’s 10,000 people ahead of them. They need to clear a priority lane, but the cops and security guards are standing at the back of the crowd and shrugging their shoulders.”
Scenes of chaos in #SydneyAirport as flights are delayed due to technical fault. Poor communication from @SydneyAirport. #Sydney #airport #delays @abcnews @10News @7NewsSydney pic.twitter.com/p2yqYGtFHo
— Mathew Jones (@mathewlj) March 8, 2018
Friday is traditionally one of the busiest travel days at Sydney Airport, adding to the frustration of thousands of passengers passing through he check-in gates.
“So much for a developed city, can’t solve a security screening issue since the last 3 hours,” Nishank Kotain tweeted, venting on social media.
Earlier today, Sydney Airport’s general manager of corporate affairs, Sally Fielke talked to Alan Jones on 2GB and asking passengers to be patient while they resolve the issue.
“We’ve got the IT and technical teams working at the moment with the software provider,” she said.
“Our key priority is we’ve got to get this glitch fixed. What it means at the moment is we can’t process outbound passengers.
“People who have booked flights to head out this morning… we are unable to process them.
“We’re asking passengers: you’re going to have to be a little bit patient this morning.”
What are your thoughts? Do you think Sydney Airport has handled the situation well?
Hero image credit: Twitter / Nishank Kotain