Queues from 4am as Australian airports brace for peak delays over Easter long weekend

Queues and delays at Australian airports are expected to be at their worst ahead of the Easter long weekend, but security providers have warned the chaos stemming from staff shortages will continue into the second half of the year. More than 82,000 people were expected to travel through Sydney airport’s domestic terminals on Thursday – the busiest day since March 2020 – while 350,000 were predicted to visit over the course of the long weekend. The travel peak comes as the airport struggles with security staffing that is 70% of pre-pandemic levels. Senior executives at Sydney airport were ordered to leave their offices, along with retail and IT workers, to help manage departure queues as Covid infections, isolation orders and a structurally depleted workforce contributed to the issues plaguing airports across the country. On Thursday morning, travellers heeding the call to allow extra time arrived at Sydney airport in the hours before its doors opened. Travellers reported queues forming outside some domestic departure halls before 4am – two hours before the airport’s curfew lifts. Traffic at departure drop-off zones was also considerably backed up before 5am, while queues of travellers lined up for security checkpoints stretched out to the car park. While queues at Sydney airport had eased by mid-morning, they were expected to peak again by Thursday afternoon. Melbourne airport had more domestic passengers pass through its terminals on Wednesday than it did in March 2020 while Brisbane and Adelaide airports were expecting 50,000 and 25,000 domestic travellers respectively on Thursday.<br/>