Faulty smartgates keep international arrivals waiting at Australia’s biggest gateway

Passengers at Australia’s busiest airport are being confronted with massive queues as ageing border force ‘smartgates’ have the worst failure rates in the country.

Machines intended to streamline the processing of international arrivals into Sydney Airport are out of order on an average of 88 times a month, the worst rate of failure in the country.

Data provided by Australian Border Force revealed the extent of problems with the 22 smartgates and 40 kiosks which are meant to speed up the process for eligible international arrivals.

Instead, long queues and interminable waits are commonplace at Australia’s biggest gateway, causing frustration for travellers and concern that new arrivals are getting a poor welcome.

A Sydney Airport spokeswoman said the current system was “clearly not providing the best customer experience” as international passenger volumes continued to grow.

Although there were plans to upgrade the technology, the rollout of new smartgates was not scheduled for completion in Sydney until July, 2024.

The ABF was unable to say what the average wait time was for overseas travellers arriving into Sydney but did acknowledge that faults and malfunctions were commensurate with the age of the smartgates, first introduced in 2009.

Social media post showing two out of three kiosks at Sydney Airport out of order on October 26. Picture: X (formerly Twitter)

In comparison Melbourne Airport was seeing an average of eight faults a month in 13 arrival smartgates and 18 kiosks, Perth Airport recorded 13 failures a month across eight machines and ten kiosks while Brisbane Airport reported an average 12 outages a month over its 14 smartgates and 17 kiosks.

Departure area smartgates saw fewer issues due to the fact they were more recent technology, said an ABF spokeswoman.

As a result, Sydney Airport was experiencing an average of 20 faults a month across 25 machines in its departures area; Melbourne 10 outages in 18 machines and Brisbane an average of nine faults over 12 gates.

Perth recorded an average of just three outages a month across 12 departure smartgates.

The ABF spokeswoman said with regard to arrivals, new third-generation smartgates were already in place at Brisbane and Perth International Airports.

Melbourne was next on the to-do list with new smartgates set to be in place by the end of November, while Sydney would have to wait until July 2024 for its third-gen gates.

“International travellers will notice a more streamlined border clearance experience with the new technology,” said the spokeswoman.

As well as being more reliable, the new smartgates promise to shave 10 seconds off the clearance process for arrivals, helping to get more travellers through each hour.

Unlike the previous version, the new gates do not require a ticket to be inserted, relying instead on a biometric comparison of the traveller’s face with their passport.

International arrivals queue at Sydney Airport on October 24. Picture: X (formerly Twitter)

The Sydney Airport spokeswoman said they were “supportive of any efforts by the ABF to streamline the process and fast track the rollout of new, more efficient technology”.

“In the meantime, we will continue to work closely with the ABF to manage the growing volume of arriving international passengers as efficiently as possible,” the spokeswoman said.

Former Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan, now head of the Experience Co, said first impressions counted for international arrivals and excessive delays were not helpful.

When you arrive into a destination after a long haul flight which most international travellers to Australia have done, that first impression is really important because often people are tired, their jet lagged, they just want to get out and to their accommodation or transfer,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

“Anything that delays that process just adds to the stress and worry and fatigue, so it’s not good.”

About half of all overseas travellers arriving into Australia come through Sydney Airport, which recorded 1.27 million passengers in its international terminal in September.

The figure amounted to 93.1 per cent of pre-Covid passenger traffic, with the gateway expected to surpass 2019 levels early next year.