Police Escort Qantas Passengers After SYD Security Breach

After a security breach at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, federal police had to accompany over 200 passengers on a Qantas flight from SYD to Melbourne Tullamarine Airport.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that shortly after take-off, the captain advised the flight’s 225 passengers and crew that they would need to be escorted through airport security by authorities.

Passengers told by airport workers that they needed to have their luggage rechecked and that they could not use the restroom were escorted by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Victoria Police.

A passenger on the aircraft who wished to remain anonymous informed Melbourne radio station 3AW that as many as 60 people on the plane had not gone through the proper screening procedures at Sydney Airport.

The passenger left Orange Regional Airport (OAG), which does not have security scans, and boarded a flight to Sydney.

The traveller said that upon arrival in SYD, he and other passengers with connecting flights from other regional locations were permitted immediate access to the airport lounge before boarding their subsequent flight.

The passenger claimed to 3AW that there were between 40 and 60 people who were not screened.

Which airport employee was at fault for the safety lapse? Australia’s airport security employees’ union, the United Workers Union (UWU), has stated that a lack of personnel was to blame for the screening lapse at Sydney Airport.

The public “should be appropriately frightened,” according to UWU property services coordinator Damien Davie, because someone was able to get through security checks at Sydney Airport.

Understaffing, improper training, and other workload concerns, in the opinion of UWU, pose a threat to security.

Despite the pandemic, Certis, Sydney Airport’s main security contractor, allegedly did not provide its employees with access to JobKeeper. The union claims this has caused an acute scarcity of suitably qualified airport security personnel.

In a statement obtained by local media, a Qantas spokesperson said that a customer had boarded the Melbourne aircraft after walking through a screened area of Sydney Airport when they should have been in an unscreened area.

To prevent compromising the secure section of the Melbourne terminal, which would have required all passengers who had already been through security to be rescreened, the airline said that upon landing in Melbourne, all passengers on QF487 were escorted from the aircraft and taken through the screened part of the airport into the unscreened area.

“We will investigate how this event occurred, and we regret any disruption to passengers on the aircraft,” the spokesperson added.