Travel chaos at Australian airports on busiest day of the year

Long wait times and possible flight delays are anticipated across the nation on Friday, as airports brace for the highest number of travellers this year. With tens of thousands of people attempting to return home or visit family before the weekend, travellers have been urged to carefully plan their trips to avoid being affected by the delays. Brisbane airport head of public affairs Stephen Beckett said a post-Covid record of 14,300 people would travel through the airport’s international terminal on Friday. “It’s hard to remember this time last year if you were travelling internationally you would have had to have done a seven-day quarantine period,” he said. “We had a cap of 1000 people a week who were allowed into Queensland.” Beckett said the domestic terminals were dealing with “lots of movement”, but queues were moving relatively quickly. A few people had been “caught short” and might have missed their flights, he said. “If you’re travelling today we do recommend that you arrive 90 minutes before a domestic flight and pre-book your Ubers and taxis,” Beckett said. “We are hearing from a few people in the terminal this morning they got caught short with wait times. Make sure you’re aware of what and can’t go in your hand luggage and remember just pack your patience.” An airport security strike planned for Monday had been averted, which was “great news for families”, Beckett said.<br/>