Passport machine outage causes major delays at Australian airports

SmartGate passport control machines were down at all international airports from 6am on Monday.

While the underlying IT issue was resolved just before midday, airports around the country were still experiencing lengthy delays into the afternoon.

Photos on social media showed large queues snaking throughout terminals on Monday morning as ABF officers were forced to process all incoming and outgoing travellers manually.

About 1.30pm an Australian Border Force spokesperson said a number of ABF and Department of Home Affairs IT systems affected by an earlier outage had been restored.

"The department is continuing work to bring all systems back online, ensure the integrity of the systems and resolve any ongoing issues," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"Additional ABF staff have been deployed to process passengers at international airports and to minimise delays in cargo processing where possible.

"While the addition of staff has seen reduced delays at some airports, passengers are still encouraged to arrive at airports early to allow additional time for processing."

The spokesperson some ongoing delays were expected in cargo processing as staff worked through the backlog.

"We appreciate the patience of passengers and businesses impacted by these outages."

A Brisbane Airport Corporation spokeswoman said the ABF notified it that the issue had been resolved just before midday.

"We fared pretty well, all things considered; the timing was not ideal, we were affected during a busy peak period," she said.

"We had 20 departing or inbound flights in that time and 15 were delayed.

"The delays for departures were between two and 39 minutes, the arrivals were between 65 and 70 minutes."

Earlier, Brisbane Airport Corporation spokeswoman Leonie Vandeven said 9000 departing passengers and 10,000 incoming travellers were caught up in the Brisbane international delays. She said the ABF had gone back to manual processing to clear the customs queues.

"ABF have put on as many people as they possibly can to actually get people through, but obviously it's a lot slower than the automatic system," Ms Vandeven said.

International arrivals at Sydney "pretty blocked up"

Jesse Ilic, a 28-year-old civil engineer, flew back to Sydney from the US on Monday morning.

On arrival, he was greeted with massive queues for passport control snaking all the way past the duty-free store.

"It was pretty blocked up," Mr Ilic said. "Everyone had to go get processed manually. Some people were pretty annoyed."

Customs staff patrolled the queues, providing updates about the wait times which stretched to 90 minutes.

"It was managed well actually. They had people walking up and down letting everyone know what was happening," Mr Ilic said.

"Some people tried to skip the line by walking through the duty-free store, but they got told to go back.

"The biggest issue people were saying is that they were running late for work."

While services were being progressively restored following the system outage, there were still lengthy delays as airports worked through the backlog of outbound and incoming travellers.

A Sydney Airport spokesman said passengers were still being advised to check with their airlines.

A Perth Airport spokeswoman said systems were back online and there were no delays at the airport.

"We did experience IT outages with ABF passport gates. We have not experienced any delays for outbound and inbound flights at Perth Airport, and passengers are beginning to be processed through the gates again."

ABF controls the SmartGate passport machines, which use facial recognition technology along with ePassports to check travellers' identities.

While the ABF spokesperson did not say which airports were affected, SmartGates are installed at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Cairns, Canberra, Gold Coast, Darwin and Perth airports.

- With Hannah Barry

SMH/The Age