Sydney Airport, Melbourne airport delays after major customs outage: What you need to know
Travelers have been warned to expect major delays at airports across the country due to a national software glitch.
There is a technical glitch at SmartGate kiosks for incoming and outgoing passengers at international airports across the country.
This means passengers at Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney airports are all likely to be affected.
Sydney Airport said there were long immigration delays “due to a national outage affecting Australian Border Police processing systems”.
“Passengers are being processed manually and although queues for inbound and outbound flights are longer than normal, no flights are affected,” an airport spokesperson added.
“Passengers traveling today are encouraged to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight and allow sufficient time to travel to the T1 International Terminal.”
Dozens of travelers took to social media to express their frustration.
“Sydney airport is crazy at the moment with about 700 people waiting in line to get through customs,” one person said.
Another said there were ‘major delays at Australian international airports because the PassPort system failed’.
Images from Sydney airport showed huge queues
Travelers have been warned to expect delays
People reported huge queues at Sydney airport
“Me and thousands are stuck in Sydney.”
An Australian Border Force spokesperson said “additional ABF officers are being deployed to work areas to manually process passengers and ensure minimal disruption.”
“The issue is currently being resolved and systems are slowly coming back online,” she added.