A schoolgirl on an Air New Zealand flight to Napier was "freaked out" after the plane was forced to turn back to Auckland following a bomb threat.
The 15-year-old, who asked not to be named, spoke exclusively to Hawke's Bay Today back home in Napier, where she said the 40 passengers initially knew nothing about the reason for making a midair "sharp turn" late yesterday morning.
"We were about half an hour into the flight from Auckland to Napier when the cabin crew suddenly told us we were heading back to Auckland," she said.
"The air hostess was looking really distressed and we were flying much lower than usual. It was pretty weird."
The teenager said it was not until the Air Nelson Q300 aircraft had landed in Auckland that she was told of the threat.
"When we landed we were told to grab our luggage and get off the plane as fast as we could.
"I thought the plane was going to explode. One of the crew, I think it was the captain, told us there had been a bomb threat made. We were all pretty freaked out. I left my passport on the plane but thankfully someone grabbed it for me. Half an hour later we were heading back to Napier again. I was pretty scared but I'm fine now."
An Air New Zealand spokesperson said a woman who was booked on flight NZ8411, but arrived late at Auckland International Airport, allegedly made "a non-specific verbal threat involving the flight" to airline staff. The plane was in the air when the threat was made and was requested to return to Auckland "as a precaution".
It was then checked and cleared by the Aviation Security Security and departed again at 1.15pm, over two and a half hours after its original scheduled departure time. It arrived in Napier at 2.17pm. A runway at Auckland International Airport was closed for about an hour while the plane was checked. Christian Jirkowsky from Havelock North, who flies about 120 flights a year, said the plane turned back to Auckland just before 11am.
"The pilot or crew didn't say anything. Then after one to two minutes the pilot informed us there was a small technical problem," Mr Jirkowsky said.
"We landed at the very end of the runway, quite far from the terminals, and had to leave the plane as quickly as possible. I was surprised by how loud she [the air hostess] said it. After 10 minutes they told us it wasn't a technical problem but a bomb scare."
The passengers waited in a bus near the plane for almost an hour.
"They told us it had been some lady in the terminal who couldn't get onboard and mentioned a bomb during an argument."
Police said a 57-year-old woman had been arrested and charged under the Civil Aviation Act with communicating false information. She was due to appear in court on Monday.
It is not yet known whether she is from Hawke's Bay.