Air New Zealand passengers on Rarotonga flight face 8-hour return after bad weather thwarts landing

Air New Zealand flight ANZ946 was forced to turn back to Auckland due to poor landing conditions in Rarotonga. Image / Flight Aware

Passengers travelling to Rarotonga today clocked in nearly eight hours of flight time after an Air New Zealand aircraft was unable to land.

Flight ANZ946 departed from Auckland Airport this morning at 9.02am and was scheduled to land about 12.30pm NZ time.

But the aircraft was turned around close to Avarua, arriving back in Auckland at 4.50pm.

Air New Zealand’s chief operating officer Alex Marren said the plane faced poor landing conditions due to “adverse weather” on the ground.

An additional flight has been scheduled for affected passengers tomorrow.

“We know this is disappointing for our customers, and our teams are working hard to get everyone to their destinations as soon as possible,” he said.