‘Security incident’ triggers evacuation of Cairns Airport departure lounge

Hundreds of passengers travelling outbound from Cairns Airport have been made to evacuate the departures lounge, following a security incident.

Hundreds of passengers at Cairns Airport have been evacuated from the departure lounge at the domestic terminal following an announcement about a security incident.

One of the passengers contacted the Cairns Post saying everyone was evacuated from the rounge and then routed through security a second time.

“Five minutes before we were due to board our flight to Brisbane, they made an announcement that they had a security incident and the entire departure lounge would need to be evacuated and all passengers and staff would need to be screened again,” the passenger said.

The Cairns Airport domestic terminal after the entire departures lounge was emptied after what one witness described as a "security incident".

The Cairns Airport domestic terminal after the entire departures lounge was emptied after what one witness described as a "security incident".

A Cairns Airport spokeswoman confirmed the incident.

“It was a procedural error from one of our airline partners and it resulted in us removing all passengers from departures,” she said.

“Safety is our number one priority and we are now rescreening all departing passengers as part of our security process.”

The passenger said their flight was prioritised, and authorities were quick to get everyone back through.

Originally published as ‘Security incident’ triggers evacuation of Cairns Airport departure lounge