IT, bay allocation mix up to blame for long Adelaide Airport queues

Flights have been delayed and travellers forced to wait in long queues amid issues with check in and plane bay allocations at Adelaide Airport this morning.

IT and bay allocation issues have caused headaches for travellers at Adelaide Airport this morning, with long queues captured outside of the terminal.

An airport spokesperson said an IT issue impacted its bag drop system at the northern end of the check in hall, resulting in some bags having to be manually checked in.

“The southern end of the check in hall (where Qantas is located) was not affected and all check-in systems are now fully operational,” the spokesperson confirmed.

“Resultant delays to Virgin departures were between 20 minutes to 1 hour.”

Queues previously pictured at Adelaide Airport. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Huge queues at Adelaide Airport this morning. Reports there’s an issue with a check in system. This picture was taken at 5:20 this morning. @[e-mail]/Fm7jnNM83F

— Hayden Nelson (@haydennelson) November 23, 2022

Meanwhile, a Virgin Australia representative said multiple incoming flights into Adelaide were not allocated sufficient landing bays.

The representative said three flights were given two bays, causing further delays.

She said four outgoing flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast were impacted.

A security officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was “hectic”.

“We’ve been a bit understaffed lately with Covid, everyone’s been off on sick leave with it,” he said.

“We didn’t have as many lanes open sadly, but we got through it in the end.”

7NEWS shared an image of travellers lining up outside of the terminal around 5.20am, with one traveller telling The Advertiser it was chaos around 6am.

Queues have now reduced considerably and services should not be impacted throughout the remainder of the day.