Passengers have been evacuated from Brisbane domestic airport and flights have been delayed after a fault with a single metal detector prompted both travellers and staff to be rescreened by security.
Pictures on social media showed large crowds at the airport, with one person saying the “entire place has ground to a halt”.
In a statement on Monday, the airport said all people within the terminal were being rescreened “due to a technical fault with a single metal detector”.
“The fault was quickly identified and there is no safety or security threat,” the statement said.
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“However, it will take some time to rescreen all passengers and staff, delaying flights.”
One passenger, Craig MacLean, said everyone had boarded his 3.40pm flight to Cairns when they were told there had been a security breach and the entire domestic airport was being evacuated.
“There were thousands and thousands all funnelling outside,” he said. “Now [they’re] all outside and waiting on the process of everyone having to come back through.”
Everyone stayed calm, but there was mass confusion as people were told to come forward for screening but then turned away by security, he said.
“It’s a nightmare trying to navigate to the screening area because there are just so many people here.”
Another traveller, Zachariah Kelly, was on the first flight to take off to Sydney and said the delay was around two hours and 30 minutes.
“We were already all boarded and waiting for about 40 minutes before the captain told us to get off,” he said.
“There wasn’t much panic at the outside of the airport, but there was a lot of confusion – nobody really knew what was going on until [Brisbane] put out that statement on a technical fault with a scanner.”
The airport said it apologised for the inconvenience and thanked passengers for their patience and understanding.
Brisbane’s international terminal is not affected by the issue, the statement said.
On Friday, the airport announced it had become the first airport in the world to complete a security assessment under a new International Air Transport Association program.
The certification involved an airport site visit in June and a full audit of its aviation security, according to the airport’s website.
The airport, Australia’s third-busiest, has direct connections to 62 domestic destinations.
