Huge changes coming to Sydney Airport Domestic T2
The airport hopes its T2 terminal will become “the fastest and most efficient in Australia”.
By Chris Ashton, November 20 2024
Sydney Airport is embarking on the biggest overhaul to its T2 Domestic hub in more than 30 years, with a reworked layout, streamlined check-in and upgraded security expected to take passengers from kerb to airside in ‘less than 15 minutes’.
Earmarked for completion in late 2026, the staged project represents a $200 million investment in the terminal, which has long frustrated travellers with snaking check-in queues and extended wait times at security.
In welcome news, those security checkpoints – as well as those at the international terminal – are first in line for the upgrade, with new ‘Standard 3’ scanners rolling out across seven processing lanes by the end of 2025.
These will allow travellers to sail through security with laptops and liquids remaining in their carry-on, alongside dedicated lanes for family and assistance plus two new lifts that will make it easier to access the food court and departure gates.
The reoriented security area at Sydney Airport T2.
These time-saving scanners are already found at numerous airports across the country, including Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, the Gold Coast and even the Sydney Qantas T3 terminal just across the way.
Additional self-service kiosks and bag drop facilities are also on the cards, with the airport anticipating 95 per cent of passengers will reach airside in less than 15 minutes, once the upgrade is complete.
Given T2 welcomes 17 million passengers a year, it’s an ambitious target, but could be achievable, with each lane able to process double the current passenger average.
For comparison, here's what T2 currently looks like.
Sydney Airport CEO Scott Charlton is beaming about the airport’s new vision, believing “will make the T2 experience one of the fastest and most efficient in Australia”.
“While we understand that the upgrade works may cause temporary disruption, we want to thank passengers and our airline partners for their patience and understanding during this important transformation,” Charlton adds.
These latest upgrades build on a series of changes over the last 12 months at T2, including new food, drink and retail offerings, along with the Duty Free-like department store straddling either side of the walkway leading to gate 31 and above.
26 Jul 2015
Total posts 80
Its like walking through an International Airport with the "Duty Free" shop you can't avoid, I had a look at the booze section briefly the other day and Dan Murphy's is much cheaper anyway. The Standard 3 scanners at the Gold Coast are better than the old ones in Sydney, but not that much quicker as you always seem to have to be scans 2 or 3 times.
But, anything would be better than what it all is at the moment, so thankful for small mercies.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Oct 2016
Total posts 116
Ho! Welcome to the new ludicrous 'amazing' scanners, that allow liquids and laptops in the bag, but now force you to remove belts when you didn't have to before. Completely absurd... It's arguably far messier trying to put yourself back together later, than it is slipping a laptop and deo bottle back into your bag from the tray. I hate this new idea in QF SYD domestic...
21 Jun 2022
Total posts 7
Now its time for Virgin Australia to upgrade its overcrowded and substandard Sydney lounge. No longer fit for purpose and time to stop sweating the asset...
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
31 Mar 2016
Total posts 32
“Most efficient”. Lots of inexperienced travellers use T2 with multiple LCC style airlines. It will never have the efficiency of T3 sadly.
03 Aug 2020
Total posts 22
If they are going to be the same as those at the Qantas domestic terminal then I think we can expect the process to most definitely be slower
Etihad - Etihad Guest
26 Apr 2019
Total posts 7
I don't find the new scanners any quicker. Yes, I no longer have to take my laptop out of my bag, but now I have to take off my belt. Ridiculous. I'd rather take my laptop out of my bag. And the way that 4 or 5 people at a time can put their bags onto the belt means that everyone gets out of sequence (and yes, this probably annoys me more than a lot of people). With the laptop remaining in the bag I now find more often than not that my bag now also requires secondary screening for some reason. So more time added that wasn't there before. Canberra is particularly bad at it. I never thought I'd say this, but can we please go back to the old way?
09 May 2020
Total posts 574
The older walk through body scanner is definitely faster than the current stand and pose like Michael Jackson scanner.
Sure the newer scanner can easily pick up the location of metal in the body as opposed to the walk through model, but if you have to do a large number of seasoned travelers with empty pockets, it makes the process a lot slower than before. I doubt the marketing claims of improved detection actually made the screening process any safer. Many of the times they have to resort to hand held metal detectors or redo the stand and pose, to find that the detected object was a false positive and magically disappeared on the second screen.
The new scanners are probably more suited for a centralised security screening arrangement for a sanitised airside area, but frankly this security arrangement is easily vulnerable to breaches requiring slow and tedious evacuation and rescreening of staff and pax alike, whereas security screen at the gates arrangements (like in SIN) assumes no one arriving from anywhere is safe and the true security is done right at the most critical part of entry into the plane. Many readers here dislike the SIN security screening but imagine the chaos several Aussie airport terminals experienced few times a year from security breach protocols and triple that!
The staff in SIN requires pax to remove their belt before the walk through scanner which makes me suspect their instruments are set at a different threshold to our walk thru scanner here (belts stay on).
09 Dec 2023
Total posts 8
The new scanners are slower than the old ones. They are an improvement for someone but it’s certainly not the travelling public.
QantasFF
16 Nov 2012
Total posts 60
Agree with all these comments.
I try to avoid them because they ALWAYS claim I have metal somewhere on me - never actually in my arm, where there is some, but everywhere else.
25 Jun 2018
Total posts 50
Right on RobJ. I have had metal falsely ‘detected’ in my left forearm, right shoulder and chest but never in right knee or right tibia where I have assorted ironmongery.
Belt on or belt off - always causes a fuss from the inspectorate. Aircrew - walk straight through! Wife’s belt on skirt or trousers- never queried or asked to remove it. How about one rule for all?
11 Oct 2017
Total posts 11
There is absolutely nothing "time saving" about the scanners at Adelaide airport. It is really difficult to swallow the concept that anything will really make the check in process simpler. I'll be staying away from Sydney airports.
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