Hundreds of travellers were taken off airplanes at the Halifax airport Thursday morning after a suspicious object was spotted during a security check.

Just before 8 a.m., security staff at the Halifax International Airport saw something in a bag they could not identify through the X-ray machine.

Before they could get a closer look, however, a passenger left with the bag.

"A bag can be handed from one security person to another, and it just gets mishandled at that point and the passenger leaves with it," said Peter Spurway, spokesman for the Halifax International Airport Authority.

As a result, all departure flights had to be put on hold. The pre-board screening was closed and the departures level was searched.

"There's got to be a better system," said Bill Santos, who was one of hundreds of passengers pulled off an Air Canada plane to Toronto and sent through security a second time.

"This seems a little bit archaic."

Spurway acknowledged that the security precautions resulted in delays for many travellers, but said it was necessary.

"Safety is the first issue," he said.

Spurway said the unidentified object was tracked down and determined to pose no threat.

He said flight schedules were expected to be back to normal by noon.

There were four security breaches at the airport in 2004. In one incident, a passenger left the pre-board screening area before the procedure was complete.

In each case, some flights were delayed for several hours while airport officials and RCMP checked the airport.