Melbourne, Adelaide Airports Hit by Security Breaches

DALLAS - Passengers traveling through Melbourne (MEL) and Adelaide (ADL) airports have faced chaos after two separate security breaches meant passengers were forced to be re-screened.

At MEL, a passenger was able to slip past security undetected, forcing all Qantas (QF) passengers to be evacuated from Terminal One. Long queues formed as passengers had to be reprocessed through security.

The breach affected MEL's Terminal One, which handles QF's domestic flights. Photo: Qantas

Precautionary Evacuation

It is believed the passenger accidentally gained access from the baggage area. When security could not locate them, the order was made to evacuate the terminal. Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers spoke to the man but brought no charges.

A spokesperson for AF said, "A passenger appears to have inadvertently passed from an "unscreened" to a "screened" area of the airport in Melbourne. As a precaution, all Qantas operations have been put on hold, and passengers in the terminal are being re-screened, which is causing delays to some services this morning."

"Safety is our number one priority, but we know this disruption is causing some inconvenience for our passengers, and we apologise for that. We are investigating how this incident occurred."

Faulty Equipment

Meanwhile, at ADL, faulty equipment led to the evacuation of the affected terminal just after 10:00 local time. ADL said it was investigating the breach.

"An orderly evacuation of the terminal has been undertaken and re-screening of passengers has commenced. There are likely to be some flight delays as a result, and passengers are asked to check with their carrier for up-to-the-minute flight information," the airport said in a statement.

Meanwhile, ADL's Managing Director Brenton Cox said, "We do apologise for the impact that did have on a number of our customers. There were around about ten delays, but fortunately, it was actually fabulous."

Qantas VH-QPB Airbus A330-300. Photo: Malcolm Nason/Airways

Security Crisis

These issues come amid a staffing crisis that has hit the Australian aviation industry hard. Dozens of flights have been canceled, and long queues have formed outside airports as passengers wait to pass through security.

And just a month ago, QF faced another security breach when 200 passengers were escorted off their plane on September 7 by AFP and Victoria Police. This followed a passenger being able to board the flight without passing through the correct screening process.

Featured Image: Qantas Boeing 737-800 (VH-VXB). Photo: Aidan Pullino/Airways