If you’ve had the misfortune to travel domestically by plane in the past couple of weeks, you’ll know that getting through security at Sydney airport has turned into a nightmare. Due to staff shortages, which have caused the flow of passengers through security to move at a snail’s pace, the orderly queue area marshaled by handy rope lines has barely scratched the surface of the snake of stressed-out travellers that now winds its wild way throughout the domestic terminal. Similar issues are also impacting other airports around Australia, notably Melbourne, where queue times for security peaked at two hours over the Grand Prix weekend.
But if you thought recent scenes were bad, the Easter long weekend is set to push the chaos to new heights. Waits to get through security are expected to reach two hours or more, as thousands of people head interstate for their four days of freedom.
One of the biggest issues exacerbating the security staff crisis has been the Covid isolation rules, which did not previously class airport security personnel as ‘essential workers’, exempt from isolating due to a household contact once a negative test result is returned. However, after security wait times reached shocking lengths in recent weeks, an amendment to the rules on Friday, April 8, now means that security staff are now classed as essential workers. However, this may not ease the situation for several weeks, airport authorities warned, due to a general dearth of trained employees and a highly competitive jobs market.
Ahead of the long weekend surge, passengers are being advised to arrive at the airport at least two hours prior to boarding for all domestic flights. So if you planned to cruise through security and straight onto your aircraft, you may need to think again.