Police escorted 200 passengers from a plane after it landed because 1 'inadvertently' missed security before boarding

• Police escorted 200 Qantas passengers back through a security scan after their flight landed.
• The incident occurred after a passenger "inadvertently" missed screening, the airline said.

Police escorted more than 200 passengers from a plane after it landed when it emerged that at least one had not passed through security before boarding.

After landing on Wednesday, passengers on Qantas flight QF487 from Sydney to Melbourne were made to wait 15 to 20 minutes onboard and in a gate lounge before being escorted to the arrivals hall, The Guardian and other outlets reported.

"It was made clear that we were not to stop for the toilet, put anything in a rubbish bin, or drop anything from our person on our way out," Patrick Durkin, Melbourne bureau chief for the Australian Financial Review and a passenger on the plane, wrote in a column explaining the incident.

Pictures he posted on Twitter showed passengers waiting on the plane, as well as pictures of armed police officers at the airport.

They were allowed to leave Melbourne airport once they'd been rescreened, Sky News Australia reported.

A Qantas spokesperson told the Guardian that a passenger boarded a flight after "inadvertently" passing from an unscreened to a screened area of Sydney airport.

"As a precaution, all passengers on QF487 were escorted from the aircraft when it landed in Melbourne and taken through the screened part of the airport into the unscreened area," the spokesperson said.

Flightaware shows the Airbus A330-200 departed Sydney at 19.37 local time and landed in Melbourne at 21.01.

The passenger in question, who asked not to be named, told 3AW radio he'd boarded a regional flight at an airport that did not have security screening. Such passengers would usually be directed to pass through security at Sydney airport but this failed to happen, he told 9News. He said he was one of between 40 and 60 passengers to have done so, per 9News.

Qantas did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The incident comes amid a turbulent period for Qantas, Australia's national carrier. The airline has been heavily criticized for its poor performance this summer after a series of mass cancelations, incidents of mishandled baggage, and long delays.

CEO Alan Joyce, has apologized for the operational issues, blaming staff shortages due to sickness have caused the problems. Unions argue that the problems are self-inflicted, after the airline cut staff during the pandemic.

Insider previously reported that as many as 4,000 passengers were left stranded by Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, after the airline canceled eight flights this month.