Sydney Airport delays: queues ease on busiest travel day in two years

Check-in queues have eased for Easter holiday travellers after a morning of mayhem at Sydney Airport. But more travel chaos is expected.

Lengthy queues have eased at Sydney Airport, relieving passengers of potential flight delays and hours standing on foot.

Lines of people were weaving in and out of domestic terminal barriers at a slow but consistent pace at Virgin and Jetstar desks.

Rex flight desks were near empty with customers being checked in swiftly by airline staff before moving towards security scans.

Many travellers wore a look of relief as they joined short queues and were able to check-in with hours to spare before takeoff.

It was a stark comparison to about 6am Thursday morning where people were lining up outside doors and squished into tight, stationary lines waiting nervously to get past the desks.

Todd and Esther Saddington with sons Henry and Elliot were travelling to Hobart on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

Newcastle locals Esther and Todd Saddington with children Henry, 10, and Elliot, 14, stayed in Sydney overnight and organised to arrive at the airport via taxi more than two hours before boarding to prepare for lengthy queues.

They are jetting off to Hobart for the long weekend with a couple of other families and remain optimistic that the chaos has calmed down and won’t significantly affect their trip.

“We‘re not flying out till 11 (but) we booked the taxi to get us here before 9am. Last night we were considering getting here earlier than that,” Mrs Saddington said.

“We’re always optimistic. We’ve been away with the same group before. It’s a bit of a relief (to see shorter lines).”

Travellers faced lengthy queues at Sydney Airport early on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday morning, Easter holiday travellers were faced with mayhem at Sydney Airport with passengers waiting for hours in early morning queues snaking out the terminal door.

More than 80,000 passengers travelling over the Easter long weekend are expected to board planes at Sydney Airport on Thursday.

This will be the highest number of travellers the airport has seen in the past two years with the terminals at their busiest since March 2020.

Wild scenes at the airport are expected to extend over the weekend with another 79,000 people set to file through on Good Friday.

Numbers are expected to drop on Saturday and Sunday to about 60,000, before picking back up again on Monday.

Massive queues at Sydney Airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

On Thursday morning, travellers were in long queues before even entering the airport with traffic bottlenecks at lights between O'Riordan St and Qantas Drive, and cars banked up in all directions heading into the Mascot terminals.

Sydney Airport passengers were queued back to outside the terminal. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

One passenger arriving at the airport suggested other visitors to the airport take a taxi into the terminals.

“I reckon take a cab, Uber cancelled on us three times this morning. We got a cab, no drama,” said the traveller.

Traffic heading into Sydney Airport on Thursday morning.

Cars banked up at Sydney airport on Thursday morning.

At 4am, travellers at the Jetstar check-ins were in lines, already out the doors.

Jetstar staff were seen plucking specific passengers from queues who were already late for their early-morning flights, and had eight staff members checking passengers in.

Customers noted also that the Virgin Australia check-in point appeared well-staffed, moving passengers through.

It's busy but no signs of craziness in check-in this morning at @MelbAirport, thanks @VirginAustralia

— Mike Hauser (@Hauser_Mike) April 13, 2022

Massive shout out to @SydneyAirport staff this morning. Queues were huge, but the staff managed them brilliantly and we were checked in and through security in plenty of time. pic.twitter.com/RJKdg911Dt

— Chris Lamb (@cajlamb) April 13, 2022

Multiple security screens and all eight security gates are open.

Earlier on Thursday, a passenger noted, the duration of time to pass through the security process (from the start of the security line to the end) was a total of 14 minutes.

“Look, it’s busy but you’d expect that the day before Easter. I’m glad they have all the security lines open, the line kept moving so it ended up being pretty quick,” said the traveller.

Some travellers waited outside the building, before the doors even opened for the day, not taking any chances of missing their flight.

3.55am Sydney Airport. I’m told doors open at 4am, no one (myself included) taking chances! pic.twitter.com/f4ojk2uQX8

— Andrea Crothers (@abcrothers) April 13, 2022

Airport visitors were greeted at the entrance by multiple ‘support team’ airport staff wearing lime green vests who appeared to be tasked with keeping people moving and helping those travellers in security lines.

5.05am and Sydney Airport is already busy with Easter queues winding everywhere. Big shout out to the friendly staff (legends) who kept the security lines moving. We got through in about 15 minutes 😀

— Suzie 🌸🌼 (@SometimesSooz) April 13, 2022

I woke at 4.30 to drop my parents at the airport to avoid #Sydneyairport#airportpocolyse - luckily they were Qantas - a dream. No queues, not traffic. Passed by Jetstar, Rex and virgin terminal tho…. 🥶 that place was already carnage at 5.30am

— O (@ohh_ell) April 13, 2022

SYD domestic terminals AM update: 

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 82,000 domestic passengers expected today
🚶‍♀️Queues are long at domestic terminals but moving well
🕐 Most passengers clearing check-in and security within 1-hour
🛃 Queues expected to ease towards midday & peak again into the afternoon

— Sydney Airport (@SydneyAirport) April 13, 2022

Travellers, particularly at the Qantas terminal, appeared pleased with the obvious increase in staff at airline check in points.

The Sydney airport staff had “How can I help?” written on the back of their shirts.

Travellers with a flight booked for Thursday are being advised to arrive over two hours early at the airport on Thursday.