Australian airports face travel disruption following e-gate outage

Australian Border Force (ABF) officers were required to manually process passengers at Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane international airports following a 14-hour e-gate outage. The technical failure began around 9 p.m. on a Thursday, impacting both arriving and departing travelers. The outage was resolved by approximately 11 a.m. on Friday, after which queues began to ease.

The disruption occurred as Brisbane Airport prepared for the spring school holiday period, during which more than 1.8 million passengers are expected to pass through its terminals. Brisbane Airport has recently implemented a new 12-lane passport control area on Level 4 of its International Terminal to streamline the journey from security to gates. This relocation is part of the $5 billion Future BNE program aimed at improving terminal efficiency.

International travel for the upcoming holiday period is forecast to rise 6.1 per cent compared to last year, with travelers heading to destinations including Japan, China, Europe, North America, Bali, Fiji, and Vanuatu. The ABF is currently investigating the cause of the system outage.