Security breach shuts down Qantas terminal
An article in The Herald Sun says that a set of humble house keys shut down Melbourne Airport’s Qantas domestic terminal yesterday, with Qantas saying a contractor passed the keys around a security X-ray machine to another person and walked away.
Security staff viewing CCTV footage saw the incident at 7.15am and, not knowing what the object was, ordered a complete shutdown.
Ground staff were alerted and Terminal One was immediately locked down and more than 1000 passengers were ordered to disembark and leave the terminal for re-screening. Airport stores and cafes were also quickly closed in the early-morning confusion.
“One passenger went through the X-ray, then the contractor passed the keys through the exit point,” Qantas spokesman Lloyd Quartermain said.
“At the time, we were not aware of what the object was and we had little choice but to re-screen all passengers.”
It was only later, after tracking down the contractor, that officials found the mystery object to be a set of house keys.
The contractor was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Passengers were assembled outside the security point for re-screening as fresh arrivals converged on the checkpoints.
Mum-of-three Sandra Thodey, whose family was waiting to fly to Airlie Beach in Queensland for her sister’s wedding later this week, said it was a nightmare. They eventually arrived at 6pm, nearly five hours late. Ms Thodey said the family holiday was nearly ruined as they waited to go through the security checks again.
“Because we were so late getting through we missed our ferry from Hamilton Island to Airlie Beach, and our families were left waiting at the marina as well,” she said.
The day was too long for her 11-month-old twins and five-year-old daughter, Ms Thodey said. “It was just terrible for the kids, especially since it was the first time we had taken the twins on a plane.” “We weren’t even able to go to the toilet for over three hours until we had boarded the plane,” she said.
Stockbroker Alex Fabbri said he boarded the 7.15am Qantas flight to Sydney, which was delayed because of ice on the wings. The next thing he knew he was told to get off, not aware of what was going on. He was delayed for more than two hours. “Thank God for mobile phones,” Mr Fabbri said. “It is the cost of travelling these days — the issue of delays is not so important, because we would rather have it than not be safe.”
Alana, from the Sunshine Coast, said she was delayed on her way to Melbourne on Friday, and yesterday’s delay topped it off. “We already had a four-hour delay when we got here,” she said. “We have got it at both ends of our trip.”
Mr Quartermain said Qantas regretted the delay to passengers, but it was better to err on the side of caution. “We saw something being passed through on our monitors and we were not sure what it was,” he said.
International flights departing from Terminal Two and Virgin Blue passengers in Terminal Three were not affected.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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