Qantas reveals what caused the huge security breach at Melbourne Airport

It will be scant consolation to anyone who was involved in the chaos, but Qantas has revealed what caused the security breach at Melbourne Airport today. 

Travellers were treated to unexpected pandemonium at the airport this morning, with thousands of Qantas passengers having to exit flights and head back inside the terminal to go through security again. It was the stuff of travellers’ nightmares.

According to a Qantas spokesman (as per news.com.au), the security breach occurred thanks to a passenger journeying from Perth to Melbourne for a connecting flight to Sydney.

Instead of heading directly to this connecting flight as soon as he arrived in Melbourne, the passenger instead left the sterile area of the terminal and went towards the baggage carousel.

He was in the carousel area for less than a minute before he headed back through the one-way security doors the wrong way, probably after realising that he didn’t actually need to collect his baggage.

An alarm was then triggered and the doors locked, but the customer was still able to return to the sterile area of the terminal.

According to the airline’s spokesman, Qantas is trying to determine why the doors didn’t lock properly, but it’s suspected that the amount of people also leaving the sterile area of the terminal prevented them from locking.