Coronavirus: Melbourne Jetstar flight arrived in Sydney unchecked

Jetstar welcomes federal government moves to review passenger screening processes after dozens left the airport unchecked.

Passengers are seen unchecked at Sydney Domestic Airport after disembarking Jetstar flight flight JQ520 from Melbourne. Picture: Nine News

Jetstar has welcomed federal government moves to review passenger screening processes following a mix up in Sydney that saw dozens of people walk out of the airport without being cleared by health officers.

New South Wales Health confirmed that 48 of the 137 passengers on flight JQ520 from Melbourne left the airport on Tuesday night without processing, triggering fears of another Ruby Princess-style outbreak.

The other 89 passengers were tracked down within the terminal, and screened and cleared.

Of the 48 who left the airport without being checked, 45 were contacted and arrangements made to screen them.

Three passengers were referred to NSW Police who tracked them down to a South Hurstville address on Wednesday night.

NSW chief medical officer Kerry Chant today said all passengers had been contacted and tested, except for five who are being tested today.

Jetstar Group CEO Gareth Evans. Picture: AAP

Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans said it was not helpful to apportion blame for what was a “rapidly changing situation”.

“There was not a NSW Health official in the aerobridge, there should’ve been, our staff should’ve held the plane,” Mr Evans said.

“The processes have been changing over the course of the last two or three days and we have different staff on different routes. We have to work with other stakeholders to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

He said federal Health Minister Greg Hunt had raised the need for a review of screening processes and he welcomed that.

“(Processes) are different across various health authorities and different states and that has the potential to cause confusion,” said Mr Evans.

He denied the incident could be compared to the Ruby Princess debacle, which resulted in hundreds of COVID-19 cases and at least 20 deaths.

In that case, more than 2500 passengers were allowed to disembark the cruise ship in Sydney without any checks despite many having reported “flu like symptoms” while on board.

“It’s a completely different set of circumstances. These passengers were screened in Melbourne so they weren’t unscreened,” Mr Evans said.

“It’s a completely different risk profile.”

As a result of Tuesday night’s incident, aircraft arriving in Sydney were no longer allowed to approach the gate without a health team being ready to screen passengers.

“Together with Sydney Airport we have refined our disembark­ation procedures to prevent this situation occurring again,” aside a Jetstar spokeswoman.

Qantas and Jetstar have now reduced flights into and out of Melbourne as a result of the Victorian­ border closure, but they will still operate at least two ­services a day between Melbourne and Sydney.