Due to a large statewide e-gate technical malfunction, passengers are experiencing considerable delays at Sydney International Airport, which has caused chaos.
It has been revealed that a huge statewide e-gate technical malfunction has caused considerable delays for travelers, sending Sydney International Airport into turmoil.
On Saturday morning, the Australian Border Force (ABF) notified au that it was aware of a technical problem affecting the SmartGates at the airport located in the Macot area, 8 km south of Sydney’s central business district.
An ABF representative stated, “We are working to fix the issue as quickly as possible and have deployed additional officers to assist with facilitating travelers.”
“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to passengers by delays.”
Sydney Airport acknowledged that there were now “issues” with the e-gate devices for departing international passengers in a statement that was made public on Saturday.
“To expedite processing, all manual gates are staffed at this time,” the official announcement on X (formerly twitter) stated.
In order to prevent major delays, travelers with flights leaving from T1 International are advised to arrive early and give themselves plenty of time.
In the meantime, enraged travelers have posted videos of the chaos—where passengers are left stranded—on social media.
The surreal footage displayed throngs of people growing from the immigration gate to the far end of the Sydney terminal.
“Leaving Sydney on an international flight? The line to check in with immigration is kilometers long,” one prospective traveler posted on X.
Another said, “Sydney Airport was thrown into chaos.”
It is understood that the delays have not affected flights operated by Virgin and Jetstar.
The technical problem is not affecting Melbourne Airport or Perth Airport, so travelers there won’t experience any delays.
A Melbourne Airport representative acknowledged the airport had encountered a problem in the morning, but it has already been fixed in a statement sent to on Saturday.
“Melbourne Airport experienced an intermittent issue with the processing of outbound international passengers this morning due to a fault with Border Force SmartGates,” the spokesperson said.
“The fault has now been resolved and operations have returned to normal,” they said.
