‘A lot of confusion’ after security breach forces airport terminal evacuation

Qantas passengers at Melbourne Airport are facing delays this morning and it’s likely to have a flow on effect around the country.

The airline says a passenger inadvertently passed from an ‘unscreened’ area to a ‘screened’ area of the airport.

• Scroll down for footage of this morning’s chaos at the airport

As a precaution all Qantas operations were put on hold this morning and passengers in  Terminal 1 were rescreened.

CEO of Rowing Australia, Ian Robson, was caught up in the chaos.

“A couple of announcements made clear in the last five minutes or so there was this inadvertent security breach, apparently by a small number of passengers ,which has then meant they had to evacuate everyone who had already been security cleared, including those on planes,” he told Ross and Russel.

Press PLAY below to hear how the chaos has unfolded at the airport

Today reporter at the airport, Izabella Staskowski, says the backlog is beginning to clear but there’s “a lot of confusion”.

“They haven’t really been given much information,” she said.

“People are now starting to get cancelled flights and they’re getting confused about that as well.”

Press PLAY below to hear the latest from the airport

Press PLAY below to see the chaotic scenes

Statement from a Qantas spokesperson:

“A passenger appears to have inadvertently passed from an ‘unscreened’ area to a ‘screened’ area of the airport in Melbourne. As a precaution all Qantas operations have been put on hold and passengers in the terminal are being rescreened, which is causing delays to some services this morning. Safety is our number one priority, but we know this disruption is causing some inconvenience for our passengers and we apologise for that. We are investigating how this incident occurred.”