{"id":380841,"date":"2026-04-15T15:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/380841\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:08:11","slug":"passenger-in-restricted-area-sparked-security-breach-disruption-at-auckland-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/380841\/","title":{"rendered":"Passenger in restricted area sparked security breach, disruption at Auckland Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">The spokesperson said at this stage there was nothing to suggest any malicious intent, and \u201cinquiries are currently being carried out to establish the full details of how this breach occurred\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">A witness claimed a passenger who was allowed to bypass security to board a departing flight was behind a major scare at Auckland Airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">However, the CAA spokesperson said initial enquiries indicated the incident did not involve a staff member providing access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">An Auckland Airport spokesperson said the issue had been resolved. Passengers started filing through security gates again about 8.20am.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAviation Security is requiring all passengers to be rescreened and that process is underway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThere have been some delays to flights, and we ask that anyone travelling domestically this morning to please stay across travel updates from their airline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Extra staff, including dog handlers, have been brought on to clear the large number of passengers who have to be re-processed through the security screening area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">NZME\u2019s Michael Morrah, who was at Auckland\u2019s domestic terminal, said \u201chundreds\u201d of passengers who had cleared security had been evacuated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAn aviation security officer came out and simply said everyone has to evacuate, there\u2019s been a security breach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Passengers were asked to  return through security screening. <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">There had been a 55-minute wait time to pass security check.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">A departing passenger claimed the security scare was sparked after a passenger running late for a flight was allowed to bypass screening.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Confusion at Auckland Airport as hundreds of passengers are caught up in a security breach.\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Confusion at Auckland Airport as hundreds of passengers are caught up in a security breach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">They said they watched as the passenger rushing to reach their departing flight was swiped through a door by a staff member.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">The alarm was triggered by this action, the passenger said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">The evacuation caused confusion in the terminal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">A notice board  had displayed wait times of an hour. <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Departure information on the airport website shows departing flights as delayed or blank.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\"> A Wellington-bound passenger told the Herald it had been \u201cpretty chaotic\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Passenger Rus Dennis was flying to Wellington to  collect a hybrid vehicle and drive home to \u014ckaihau, 15km north of Kaikohe.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">So far, the journey had not gone to plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe were on the plane and we ended up getting that cancelled halfway through take-off, which was interesting &#8230; then we came back to the terminal and we had to wait until they told us to get off the plane because there was an engine issue. <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAfter that, there was a security breach here in the airport, so we all had to evacuate this gate and go back down through screening. <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAnd then on top of that, we\u2019ve had thunderstorms which have delayed all the flights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Dennis said the airport scenes had been \u201cvery busy and very upsetting for some people\u201d. He said they were given \u201cno information as to what\u2019s going to happen next\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Dennis, who\u2019d been up since 12.30am to make his scheduled 6am flight, said the disruptions were \u201ca bit frustrating\u201d given he\u2019d been hoping to make the 11 hour journey back to Northland via car today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI don\u2019t see how we\u2019re going to do that now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Maria Chaukan had a funeral to attend in Wellington and told the Herald the situation had been \u201cvery chaotic\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\">Aviation Security has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"npuzLaxKHxgCDhG\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\">Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/subscription\/offers\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/subscription\/offers\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The spokesperson said at this stage there was nothing to suggest any malicious intent, and \u201cinquiries are currently&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[27995,2681,12635,1975,51,682,4378,8604,22048,14736,78,671,1304,111,43,139,69,14734,22948,60387,2437,8214,30331,1961,1339],"class_list":{"0":"post-380841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-accessing","9":"tag-airport","10":"tag-area","11":"tag-at","12":"tag-auckland","13":"tag-being","14":"tag-breach","15":"tag-caused","16":"tag-disruption","17":"tag-domestic","18":"tag-in","19":"tag-incident","20":"tag-morning","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-passenger","26":"tag-restricted","27":"tag-screened","28":"tag-security","29":"tag-sparked","30":"tag-terminal","31":"tag-this","32":"tag-without"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}