Adelaide Airport Evacuated Due to Security Breach at Main Terminal

Ever since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, traveling by air has become a much more intense and stressful undertaking. 

Passengers in Australia’s Adelaide Airport were shocked to be evacuated from the terminal on the morning of July 29 due to what facility officials are calling “human error.” Passengers who arrived on a flight from Kingscote, Australia, disembarked the plane and made their way into the main passenger area without passing through the usual security screening, the airport said. 

As a result of the temporary evacuation, at least 1,500 flyers had their departures put on hold for about two hours. Fifteen flights had their departure times pushed back. 

Airport spokesman Dermot O’Neill said the problem occurred because passengers who originated from airports that do not have security screening—apparently there are such airports in Australia—have to go through security once they arrive in Adelaide. Those on the flight from Kingscote were neither screened at their point of origin, nor at the Adelaide airport. 

One delayed passenger posted about the ordeal on social media, saying they were only 20 minutes from takeoff when they got the word that it would be at least another two hours. The social media user claimed all the passengers waiting had to go through “re-screening,” as well. 

Roy Abraham, one of many waiting to leave Adelaide, said there were “thousands” of people waiting to be screened after the incident, including the flight crew from many different plans. It was not initially clear what was causing the hold-up, Abraham said. 

Fortunately the incident only delayed travel for a few hours before the airport went back to fully operational status. 

But this is not the first error of this kind at the Adelaide airport. Traveler Roy Abraham recalled a similar incident in 2021. Having experienced that, he said, when the latest incident occurred he evacuated quickly because he knew that would help him get back to the “front of the queue again.”

Other inconvenienced passengers took it in stride, and said the incident could have been much worse. Caroline Jessen of Adelaide was headed for Sydney when the evacuation was called for, and she described the process as “orderly, very safe, and good.”