Early morning travellers were stuck in unusually long queues this morning at Auckland International Airport while trying to clear customs and get to their flights. 

One passenger described the scenes at the airport this morning as “chaos” and said the lines to get through customs were massive. 

At the time of contacting the Herald, he had already been waiting 45 minutes. 

An Auckland International Airport spokesperson said an additional flight was to blame for the further congestion. 

“It’s been a busy morning in the departures area of the international terminal with an additional A380 flight scheduled to depart at 7am with 480 passengers. This has created some additional congestion at our usual morning peak. 

The massive queues at Auckland International Airport this morning as passengers waited to clear customs. Photo / Supplied 

“We thank travellers for their patience while Customs and Aviation Security work quickly to process passengers through border formalities.” 

This comes just weeks after the airport revealed it would be trialling a new express lane, aimed at cutting down unacceptable wait times at the border, and after passengers were stuck in the international arrival halls for around 2 hours on September 17. 

Arriving at the New Zealand border, there are many checks and factors that can stack up to a substantial waiting time. 

With customs and biosecurity screening requirements to clear - on top of waiting for checked luggage to be processed and delivered to the arrivals hall - the airport is trialling ways to ease congestion at Auckland’s many layers of border screening. 

Now it is hoped a biosecurity express lane path might allow some travellers with “nothing to declare” to cruise through required checks and, hopefully, speed up the process for all arrivals. 

Since September 22, 6286 passengers have been processed under the trial. 

Caitlan Johnston is a breaking news reporter based in Waikato. She joined the Herald in 2022.