International flights from Auckland delayed by IT glitch

The revamped departure area at Auckland Airport, where outbound international flights face delays due to a baggage handling problem. Photo / File

International flights out of Auckland Airport are still facing delays tonight because of a computer glitch.

The airport tweeted soon after 5pm saying: "We are currently experiencing ongoing issues with our internal IT network. This has impacted our baggage processing causing some flight delays. If you're travelling tonight please contact your airline for guidance and check your flight times."

A spokeswoman said the problem was causing "slight delays" in outbound international flights, but was not affecting inbound or domestic flights.

We are currently experiencing ongoing issues with our internal IT network. This has impacted our baggage processing causing some flight delays. If you're travelling tonight please contact your airline for guidance and check your flight times. https://t.co/hXyuseFD67

— Auckland Airport (@AKL_Airport) January 19, 2019

Earlier today, Herald journalist Sophie Ryan was delayed 90 minutes on her international flight.

Ryan said the plane's pilot informed passengers that staff had to manually enter bag data for every piece of luggage on all flights after the electronic system at the bag-drop failed.

An Auckland Airport spokesman confirmed there had been an internal IT problem at the airport but said there was no passenger congestion in the terminals.

"We're experiencing issues with our IT network which has had an impact on the internal Wi-Fi and the baggage system at the domestic and international terminals," he said.

"Our baggage system isn't operating at full capacity which at the international terminal building is causing a delay in the processing of luggage."

The spokesman said border processing of arriving and departing passengers was operating as normal.

He said the problem was being worked on with a view to resolving it soon.