System outage causes delays at international airports across Australia

A ‘nightmare’ system outage has caused chaos at international airports across the country.

A nationwide system outage is causing major delays at international airports across the country.

The Australian Border Force processing system caused delays on Friday to both departures and arrivals.

The ABF said the technical outage was affecting the SmartGate kiosks at the country’s international terminals.

“The Australian Border Force is aware of a technical outage impacting SmartGate kiosks for outbound and inbound passengers at international airports nationwide today,” the ABF said in a statement.

“Additional ABF officers are being surged into work areas to manually process passengers and provide as minimal disruption as possible.

“The issue is currently being rectified and systems are slowly returning online. We appreciate traveller’s patience as we continue to work through the issue.”

Passengers described long queues at Australia’s busiest international terminal, Sydney Airport, on Friday morning, as ABF worked to address the outage.

A notice from Sydney Airport. Picture: Facebook

“Crazy right now, (the) line has about 700 people in it waiting to get through customs,” one passenger said.

Another added: “It is a nightmare. When is there no outage?”

In a statement, Sydney Airport said there were delays “due to a national outage affecting Australia Border Force processing systems”.

“Passengers are being processed manually and while inbound and outbound are longer than normal, no flights have been impacted,” it said.

“Passengers traveling today are encouraged to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight, and leave plenty of time when travelling to the T1 International Terminal.

“We apologise for the disruption and appreciate everyone’s patience while the issue is being resolved.”

More to come.