Travel pain to worsen over Easter as passenger numbers explode

Easter travellers are being urged to do everything they can to ease pressure on understaffed airports, from checking in online to arriving two hours early.

Scenes of long queues inside and outside the T2 Domestic terminal at Sydney airport at the weekend are tipped to be repeated over the Easter break. Picture: Julian Andrews

Easter travellers are being urged to do everything they can to ease pressure on understaffed airports, from checking in online to getting to the airport two hours before their flight.

Being prepared for security screening and limiting luggage where possible is also advised after a rough start to the holiday period.

Long queues snaked through Sydney Airport for the fifth day straight on Monday, prompting another round of apologies from airport officials and airline bosses.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said in some areas of operations up to 50 per cent of staff were absent due to Covid, which was making it difficult to manage huge crowds efficiently.

“This is going to be a problem for a period of time,” he said during a morning media blitz.

“It’s going to be more pronounced because we’re at a massive peak at the moment. This weekend we carried 350,000 people on 2800 flights (and) next weekend we’re going to carry half a million people on Qantas and Jetstar alone.”

Adding to the pain was delays in processing travellers due to ­people forgetting to remove aerosols and laptops from luggage and keys from their pockets.

Mr Joyce said Sydney Airport had seen the proportion of passengers being sent back through X-ray machines jump from 10 per cent pre-Covid to 30 per cent.

“That takes an extra 45 seconds per person, so we’re trying to bring this to people’s attention so we can all get through the airport faster,” he said.

Virgin Australia was also gearing up for what it called the busiest travel period since before the pandemic, and urged guests to arrive two hours ahead of takeoff and use online check-in.

“We appreciate the patience of all travellers as our team continue to work around the clock to assist our airport partners and help our guests get to their destinations on time,” a spokeswoman said.

Aaron Hornlimann, head of technology company Elenium, said it was regrettable the downtime during the pandemic had not been used to introduce more automation to airport systems.

Mr Hornlimann said late last year Elenium entered into an agreement with the US government to develop self-service security at airports, but it had received little interest in Australia.

“It’s an area that if governments both federal and state here in Australia paid a little bit more attention, issues like this could be alleviated and we could be ready for the future, because it’s often not up to the individual airport ­operator or the airline how security is managed,” he said.

For those wishing to avoid the pain of huge airport queues, a private jet could be chartered for about $12,000, while there was also the option of drive holidays.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said Easter was traditionally a popular time for people to go away and, with petrol prices falling and the weather improving, the roads were likely to be just as congested as airports.

“The major thoroughfares are going to be busy, as will the main highways along the east coast, and any areas that have seen flooding are likely to be held up with roadworks,” Mr Khoury said.

“That’s something families should plan for.”

Despite the temptation to hit the roads in the wee hours of the morning to escape the rush, Mr Khoury said that could heighten the risk of fatigue.

“At this time in particular you need to be alert and well rested and most people don’t normally get up at three or four in the morning,” he said. “Leave at a reasonable time, and plan your rest stops.”

Research by travel website Kayak found many roadtrippers had Coffs Harbour in their sights, with other popular Easter holiday destinations including Melbourne, Perth, Proserpine and Canberra.

Originally published as Travel pain to worsen over Easter as passenger numbers explode