Travellers forced to wait over 20 minutes to clear security at Adelaide Airport

Huge queues are back at Adelaide Airport with travellers forced to wait over 20 minutes to clear security as staff shortages throw peak hour into chaos. Tell us: Were you affected?

Travellers have been met with long queues at Adelaide Airport security checkpoints on Friday morning as management struggles to meet staffing requirements.

Wait times of more than 20 minutes were experienced during peak travel times as lines snaked right through the Airport terminal.

Speaking on ABC on Friday, Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox said the issues were becoming more “frequent” due to staff absentees.

“We were actually two (security) lanes down this morning,” he said.

“It wasn’t normal, but it’s all too frequent for us at the moment. It’s clearly been happening more than we would like.”

Adelaide Airport busy with school holiday travellers at Easter. Picture: Emma Brasier

He said they plan for illness and Covid among staff, but rosters can be overwhelmed.

“We do have surge capacity and in addition you have people who can be drawn from other duties,” he said.

“When all this fails is when you see duplication. Twenty minutes doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re in a queue like that... it can feel longer than it is.”

Mr Cox said more staff are being rapidly trained to fulfil security duties.

“I think the best thing for it is that there’s now hope in aviation. What’s been difficult is trying to promise people a rewarding career when it can be shattered on the flick of a pen.”

“Being able to have that confidence that there’s a job for the long-term has been the big difference.”

The advice for domestic travellers is to arrive two hours before a scheduled flight and three hours for international travellers.

“On most days that might feel a little indulgent, but if things don’t quite go according to plan... it just pays off to have that extra time,” Mr Cox said.