Auckland Airport IT outage resolved after passengers wait in hours-long queues

• The IT outage that prevented international travellers from checking in at Auckland Airport has been resolved.
• Hundreds of passengers faced hours-long delays, with manual check-ins causing significant congestion.
• Chief operations officer Chloe Surridge said flights would be delayed.

The “major” IT outage that prevented all departing international travellers from checking in at Auckland Airport has been resolved.

Hundreds of passengers waited for hours in queues that snaked out of the door this morning, with one calling the situation “utter carnage”.

Forty flights have been delayed according to Auckland Airport’s website.

One airline boss described the international check-in chaos as a “Third World disgrace”.

Lindsay from Auckland arrived at Auckland Airport at 7am with her husband and 8-year-old son for an 11.10am flight to Penang, Malaysia.

“There are people everywhere and no one seems to know what to do.

“We are stuck in the corner like sardines.”

She said staff were walking around with big cages of luggage while others checked passengers in manually.

A technical issue at Auckland Airport caused long delays to international flights in and out of the airport this morning.

The family were heading to Penang for three weeks for a family reunion with United Kingdom and Malaysian-based family.

“We got here and thought we would have a nice coffee and relax a little but that was not to be,” she said.

Another passenger heading to Sydney said she had been there since 3am with her five young children.

She said they have been told their flight would be delayed until at least 3.15pm.

“The airport is so packed you couldn’t walk anywhere.”

Dominic, who was trying to get to Brisbane, said there were “hundreds” of people around him waiting for answers from airport staff.

“It’s an absolute disaster.”

Hundreds of people were caught in the queues at Auckland Airport.

He said the walkways were “filled” with people so no one knew what station they were supposed to be at, nor could they reach their correct area even if they knew.

Auckland Airport said the IT systems were restored after initially going down at 2.35am this morning.

A letter sent by a third party at 11pm last night that was viewed by the Herald said a cable directly affecting systems for 14 airlines was out, leading to delays overnight.

Auckland Airport disputed this claim and said no cables were cut.

“We can confirm this morning’s outage took place outside the Auckland Airport network, and our team continues to work collaboratively with external network providers to establish what caused the fault. At this stage, that is still unclear.”

Chief operations officer Chloe Surridge said flights would be delayed due to the outage.

“The check-in area is still busy and the airport team is on hand with snacks and water, and support for parents who may be travelling with young children.”

Domestic flights were only acutely affected during the outage due to the number of staff needed to manually check-in international travellers.

NZME reporter Sarah Pollok said people were keeping calm.

“There’s no yelling or pushing. People are being patient.

“However, the crowds are massive. Family and friends are being asked via the overhead speakers to move out of the check-in area to ease congestion.”

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.

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