An eyewitness claims a passenger who was allowed to bypass security to board a departing flight is behind a major scare at Auckland Airport.

Hundreds of passengers waiting to depart Auckland this morning were forced to return through security after a breach at the domestic terminal.

NZME’s Michael Morrah, who was at Auckland’s domestic terminal, said “hundreds” of passengers who had already cleared security had been evacuated.

“An aviation security officer came out and simply said everyone has to evacuate, there’s been a security breach.”

Passengers were asked to go back through security screening. There was a 55 minute-wait time to pass security check.

A passenger waiting to board a flight claimed the security scare was sparked after a passenger running late for a flight was allowed to bypass screening.

They said they watched as the passenger rushing to reach their departing flight was swiped through a door by a staff member.

The alarm was triggered by this action, the passenger said.

Confusion at Auckland Airport as hundreds of passengers are caught up in a security breach.

The evacuation has caused confusion in the terminal.

“We’ve been given no other information apart from that, and every passenger who had already passed security checks has been asked to come back and line up.”

A notice board was currently displaying wait times of an hour, “but currently no passengers at all are being screened while we wait for more information”.

Departure information on the airport website shows departing flights as delayed or blank.

One passenger due to fly to Wellington told the Herald it had been “pretty chaotic”.

A spokesperson for Auckland Airport said the issue has now been resolved. Passengers started filing through security gates again around 8.20am.

“Aviation Security is requiring all passengers to be rescreened and that process is underway.

“There have been some delays to flights, and we ask that anyone travelling domestically this morning to please stay across travel updates from their airline.”

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.

Passenger Rus Dennis due to fly to Wellington to pick up a hybrid vehicle and drive it to his home in Okaihau, which is not far from Kerikeri.

So far, the journey has not gone to plan.

“We were on the plane and we ended up getting that cancelled halfway through takeoff, which was interesting... 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.

“After that, there was a security breach here in the airport, so we all had to evacuate this gate and go back down through screening.

And then on top of that, we’ve had thunderstorms which have delayed all the flights.”

Dennis said the scenes at the airport were “very busy and very upsetting for some people”.

“We have been given no information as to what’s going to happen next. So we’re just waiting to see what might happen. Otherwise we might have to get back in our truck and go drive all the way down there.”

Dennis, who’d been up since 12.30am to make his scheduled 6am flight said the disruptions were “a bit frustrating” given he’d been hoping to make the 11 hours journey back to Northland via car today.

“I don’t see how we’re going to do that now.”

Maria, another passenger, said she had a funeral to attend in Wellington told the Herald the situation at the domestic terminal is “very chaotic”.

Her 6am flight to Wellington had to taxi back to the gate after engine issues were identified.

Following this delay, she and hundreds of other passengers had to leave the gate area and be rescreened due to a security breach.

Aviation Security has been contacted for comment.