Airports across Australia have experienced delays due to a security outage affecting the terminals of the Australian Border Force (ABF).
The outage is reported to have resulted in delays of between 15 and 30 minutes at Sydney and Brisbane airports.
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The IT glitch led to lengthy queues at several airports where electronic passport processing was hit, with employees forced to process travellers manually.
Frustrated passengers posted their images and videos of the lengthy queues on social media.
Delays at Brisbane Airport were around 15 minutes for outbound passengers due to issues affecting smart gates, though inbound passengers were not affected.
The ABF said that the issue was caused by the smart gates, which were down. It issued an apology to travellers whose overseas trips were delayed.
The ABF said in a statement: “Our staff are working hard to minimise earlier delays caused by an outage. All issues have now been rectified. We appreciate the patience of passengers at this time and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Apart from the IT glitch, strong winds affected several domestic flights in and out of Sydney Airport.
Only one runway operated in Sydney on Sunday because of the high winds, resulting in extensive delays across domestic and international flights. All three runways were reopened by the evening.
