Adelaide Airport evacuated shortly after security breach causes chaos at Melbourne Airport

Travellers have been evacuated from Adelaide Airport shortly after a security breach at Melbourne Airport that forced passengers to disembark their plane.

Hundreds of travellers have been evacuated from Adelaide Airport shortly after similar chaos unfolded in Melbourne.

Just after 9am (local time), Adelaide officials asked everyone in the terminal to exit due to “operational reasons”, according to posts on Twitter.

All passengers already past security were asked to exit retail and gate lounges.

A spokesperson confirmed with news.com.au the airport is “currently investigating a security breach” that occurred Tuesday shortly after 9am.

“The breach is believed to be linked to the failure of a piece of security equipment,” the spokesperson said.

“An orderly evacuation of the terminal has been undertaken and rescreening of passengers has commenced.

“There are likely to be some flight delays as a result, and passengers are asked to check with their carrier for up to the minute flight information.”

Photos showed giant queues of people lining up just inside the doors in what was described as “organised chaos”.

It’s expected flights will be affected by delays and cancellations like Melbourne, with airports across the country like to also feel the effects.

Organised chaos. Agree its weird just after the Melbourne incident. Is it part of countrywide testing perhaps??🤷

— Dewald Behrens (@dcbehrens) October 10, 2022

@AdelaideAirport has also evacuated for re-screening. #Melbourneairportpic.twitter.com/RnE6OFqZBh

— Dr. Nommie (@DrNommie) October 10, 2022

Evacuation at Adelaide airport @MatthewPantelispic.twitter.com/yj0RgubPAf

— Jo De Silva (@Jo_DeSilva) October 10, 2022

Melbourne Airport security breach

At about 6am passengers were forced to evacuate Terminal 1 at Melbourne Airport to go through security again.

Several flights to about seven different destinations were delayed for more than hour, while others were cancelled.

Just after 11am on Tuesday Qantas, who manages security in the terminal, explained a passenger on a flight from Perth had exited “the sterile area” of the terminal to the baggage carousel instead of going directly to his connecting flight.

The airline said he was in the baggage area for less than a minute, before he walked back through the one-way security doors the wrong way, presumably because he realised he didn’t need to collect his bag.

An alarm was triggered and the doors briefly locked, however the customer was able to get back into the sterile area.

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A security breach has sparked chaos at Melbourne Airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Qantas said it was looking into why the doors didn’t lock as they’re meant to, but currently believe the number of people who were also exiting from the sterile area may have stopped the doors from locking.

Australian Federal Police officers spoke to the man and no charges were laid.

Qantas’ initial statement on Tuesday morning said a passenger appeared to have “inadvertently passed from an ‘unscreened’ area to a ‘screened’ area” of the airport.

“As a precaution all Qantas operations have been put on hold and passengers in the terminal are being rescreened, which is causing delays to some services this morning,” the airline said in a statement.

“Safety is our number one priority, but we know this disruption is causing some inconvenience for our passengers and we apologise for that. We are investigating how this incident occurred.”

Thousands of Qantas passengers were ordered off flights and out of the terminal to go through security again. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

A Twitter user shared that their fully loaded plane was forced to evacuate the terminal and be sent back through security screening.

“They’ve informed us that someone has slipped through the security gates and entered the terminal without screening,” Tim Joyce wrote just before 6.30am on Tuesday.

A security breach at Melbourne Airport has forced everyone including our fully loaded plane to evacuate the terminal and be sent back through security screening. They’ve informed us that someone has slipped through the security gates and entered the terminal without screening. pic.twitter.com/3cQSom0U4w

— Tim Joyce (@TimJJoyce) October 10, 2022

Mr Joyce spoke to the Today Show from the airport, further explaining his flight was just about to take off when the pilot informed them of the security breach.

“It seems quite serious. There are thousands of people waiting,” he said.

Several flights were delayed and cancelled. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“They’ve pretty much roped everything off. Everything is shut down and everyone has to be rescreened,” My Joyce said.

“Essentially they’ve communicated that people will be screened on a boarding basis from now on, so the next flight out will be screened first.”

Another passenger from the same Qantas flight to Brisbane shared a similar message on Twitter.

“Everyone had to de plane and are waiting to be called through security again,” Sue Duke wrote.